Food Babies and a Merry Christmas

My next post was going to be about pork chops. Juicy, delicious, never-knew-they-tasted-this-good pork chops. But I also made some pretty spectacular chicken fettuccine alfredo tonight... But now that I have mentioned the chops, I kind of want to write more about how awesome they were...
So, SURPRISE! Double recipe post!



First up, we'll deal with the pork chops. I have never been a fan of them. I smother them in apple sauce, and even still would much rather eat steak, or chicken. I have always thought they are dry, not very flavorful, and just all around unpleasant. I have never understood how they come from the same animal as bacon. Worst cut of pork ever.

Little did I know!

The other night, Lovie and I went grocery shopping. I have recently been exploring the Internet and thinking and talking about branching out and wanting to try cooking pork belly (bacon is pork belly cut and cured, but many Asian cultures use the whole cut).
Naturally, your typical grocer does not carry whole pork belly cuts, as it is not really used in mainstream cuisine, so you have to make a special trip to your Asian market for this cut. I mentioned this while we were in the meat section, and he suggested getting pork chops instead. I was definitely a little nervous about this idea, and honestly, was not looking forward to dinner. But he really wanted to get them (we've been having a lot of chicken and ground beef recently), so I figured I'd suck it up. It's only one meal, after all.

So we grabbed a pack of 4 fresh pork chops, some apples (because even if I was going to suffer through, I was going to try to cover up the horribleness of the chops as much as possible), along with our normal items.

I needed some help cooking the pork chops, because I have never cooked them myself and had no idea how to tell when they are done, so Lovie kept an eye on the chops while I made mashed apples. The chops we seasoned liberally with garlic salt and pepper, and cooked them at medium heat in a pan with butter.
For the apples, I basically made a compote. I chopped the apples into thin slices, leaving the skin on. This is partly because I'm lazy, partly because I'm not very good at peeling them with a knife, and partly to add texture. If you cook them long enough, the skin will get soft enough not to be an irritant, but add bulk.

I put them in a small pot with just enough water to cover them, no more. I then brought the water to a boil, and added 1/3 cup white sugar, 3/4 brown sugar, and probably about 1 teaspoon or so of cinnamon (I didn't really measure, just sprinkled till it looked good). Then I pretty much just let it simmer, and stirred until the apples were soft, and the liquid thickened, all the while mashing the apples with the spoon. It is best if you start the apple mix a bit before the chops, or they will not be reduced enough when the chops are finished cooking.

When all was said and done, those were the best pork chops I have ever had. I was in love with them. Seriously. And while the apples added to the flavor, I would have happily eaten those chops without them. Which prior to this experience, I wouldn't eat a single bite of chop without some sort of moistening addition.



Okay! Now that we have gotten the wonderful chops out of the way, we'll move onto the Fettuccine! (I am way over using my exclamation marks Sorry, Mr. Burdick.)

I'm not going to lie, for this one I actually took a recipe I found on the Net and made a couple adjustments. This is the original:

http://www.marthastewart.com/865666/chicken-fettucine-alfredo

It's a pretty bang-up recipe on it's own. Absolutely delicious, albeit a little rich.

For the garlic and heavy cream, I usually simmer it a bit longer than 10 minutes, probably closer to 15, while I cook the chicken. I start these on the stovetop at the same time, as well as the water for the pasta, with a dash of salt and olive oil to keep the noodles from sticking.
I use fresh or fully defrosted chicken breasts cut into strips, seasoned with garlic salt instead of regular salt and pepper (are you sensing I like garlic/garlic salt? You may be right.) I think the little bit of extra garlic in the salt gives it a nice kick. Don't use too much salt though. And it's a good idea to pay attention to the fact that the recipe calls for unsalted butter.
This is something I usually ignore (I know, I know, bad Cook! Bad!), but with this recipe you have a lot of different ingredients contributing to the saltiness, and with the Parmesan you add later, you want to be careful. Also worthy of note is that while the recipe calls for white pepper, you can use black. Based on my web research, they are essentially the same thing, the white pepper just makes your sauce look prettier.

Once the chicken is cooked through, I add the heavy cream (sans garlic cloves) to the chicken pan without draining the butter or anything. After it heats to a simmer, I stir in the Parmesan, and let them simmer together at a low to medium heat until the pasta is done, and the sauce has thickened to a nice creamy texture.
The chicken and sauce are so good, I could eat them all by themselves! The pasta just adds a little carb bulk, which everyone loves.

I always eat too much of this dish, and tonight when we had finished devouring it, I pushed out my stomach and said, "Hey babe, check out my food baby!" Lovie's face was priceless.



Until next time,
Fatty sauces and a very Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones!