February 7th

I Am Not A Chef

Chefs can make up dishes and cook delicious food without using a recipe.  Chefs don't have to measure ingredients, they can just tell how much they need.  And chefs always have beautiful plating.
I am not a chef.  I am a cook. A pretty good cook I think, but definitely not a chef.  I can't make up my own recipes.  I usually have to measure ingredients (although I am starting to "eyeball" more and more successfully lately).  And if you read this blog, you all know my plating is not very appetizing most of the time.
I think this is the ONLY dinner I have ever made where I did not follow a recipe.  I'm going off memory here.  I didn't make it up - my mom did.  But the recipe was never written down and I can make it without following any written directions!

Pork Nuggets
recipe from: Maureen Konieczny

My mom made up this recipe and cooked these for my family when we were growing up and since there was never really a name for the dish, my sister and I called them pork nuggets.  Fits the bill...they look like nuggets.  But, they are way fancier, somewhat healthier, and much more delicious.
I forgot a key ingredient in this recipe (I guess that's a hazard of not having it written down.) It was the shallots, but it was still good.  Since there is no recipe I'll do my best to estimate one:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb pork tenderloin but into slices (aka nuggets)
• flour
• salt
• pepper
• olive oil
• 1/2 c white wine
• 2 shallots (chopped)
• 1/4-1/2 c chicken broth
• blue cheese crumbles(optional)

Directions:

1. Salt and pepper the pork nuggets.  Then dredge them in flour and shake off the excess flour. 
2. Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a skillet and cook the pork until cooked through. After the pork is cooked, remove it from the pan.
3. Saute the shallots in the pan until soft.
4. De-glaze the pan with the white wine, scraping up brown bits.  Add the chicken stock and whisk in a little more flour to help it thicken.  Cook the sauce a few minutes, stirring frequently until it is thickened like a gravy.
5. Return the pork to the pan to heat it back up.  Serve the pork with the sauce over it and sprinkle with blue cheese crumbles.

Grades:

Megan - A (I love the flavor of the wine in the sauce mixed with the blue cheese.  It would've been even better with the shallots.)

Doug - B- (Doug said he would've given this a higher grade, but he lowered it because of the missing shallots.  He also does not like blue cheese so he had his with just the sauce.)

Noelle - A (Noelle ate this really quickly and ate a big serving of it.  I didn't give her any blue cheese thinking she wouldn't like it.  However, the next day when I was eating some blue cheese for a snack she kept asking me for some so I gave her a piece thinking she'd be disgusted.  To my surprise, she asked for more.  I guess I learned my lesson - don't assume she won't like something.)