Friends,
Hello again. The summer is winding down - technically, by the Jersey Shore calendar, it's over already, and the 49 degrees it was when I woke up this morning attests to that. It's been a lovely summer of grilling and growing, but I'm ready for cooking season. "Cooking season?" you say. Yes indeed, readers. The oven goes dormant from late May through, well, about now. So much grilled deliciousness this summer, mostly done be EPH but a little here and there by me.
Which reminds me - did I ever talk to you about the brining of everything else? During one of EPH's trips I felt like grilling, and in a fit of health had purchased skinless boneless chicken breasts. These are not something I generally have on hand as I feel they are generally bland and flavorless. But then somebody said something about brining them, I gave it a try, and just like that -- chicken breasts redeemed! The only lingering question is WHY didn't I do this before???
Showing posts with label fast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fast. Show all posts
Monday, September 14
Monday, January 12
Expedited Deliciousness, and no leftovers
I got a new cookbook for Christmas and you all need to go out and get it, stat. I start with a bias here because I've always been fond of Mark Bittman, but his new How to Cook Everything Fast is a whole new level. One of my biggest problems is that I'm just not a speedy chef, and when I make something new or interesting - or even something I've made many times before - we often end up with a later dinner than I'd like. So I was really excited to see this book - he covers many cuisines and basically just simplifies things. The book starts with helpful resources like substitution suggestions, and then he's off and running.
The other night, with snow in the forecast, I was craving Bolognese. Now anyone with a drop of Italian blood knows a decent Bolognese simmers for a good long time, and it was already mid-afternoon by the time I had this idea. So I checked HTCEF, and voila - Spaghetti with Nearly Instant Bolognese. I tweaked the recipe a bit based on what I had on hand and a few other things, but followed his process for the most part. The result, while a stray from traditional, was delicious. Not to toot my own horn...much...but I was kind of impressed with myself. The ingredients are things you mostly have on hand or can sub easily, making this a great late-afternoon-cold-weather-lazy quick dinner.
The slowest bit was the chopping, and Bittman recommends doing that while the meat simmers (or even, if you are already multi-tasking here, just pop them all in the food process for a sec). I chopped ahead of time but that's just my preference and it did add time doing it my way. This, like the baked chicken & squash soup menu from last week, has two things cooking at once so you can adjust a little as you see fit; the pasta is an approximate timeframe and if you're using a thinner pasta you'll want to wait till the sauce is reducing the wine before you put the pasta in the water, then do a quick salad while those two finish off. The cooking was so quick that I didn't get to take pictures, and then it was so good that leftovers went out the window too.
Meg's Nearly Instant Bolognese
Adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Fast
Should serve 4...but don't expect leftovers with less people!
Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper
Olive oil
~1 lb ground meat (I used turkey because it was there, the recipe suggests meatball meats - beef/pork/veal, so whatever you have on hand should work)
1 small onion or equivalent shallots
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup tomato paste (if you only happen to have, say, a can of diced tomatoes, that's fine too, and particularly with a drier meat like turkey you can use the whole can)
1/2 cup red wine
1/4 cup of cream (which I didn't have, so used a splash of milk)
Pinch of dried thyme
Dash of cayenne (optional; not enough to make it spicy - just enough to brighten the flavors, and people might not even realize it's in there)
Pasta (shape & size of your choosing)
freshly grated parmesan
Get the pasta water going (don't forget to salt it! This is an overlooked but important step and your noodles will thank you). Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium high and add a glug of oil (about a tablespoon or two, not a ton). Once the oil is hot, add the meat and cook, breaking it up with a wood or silicone spoon. While that cooks, trim and finely the carrot, onion, garlic, and celery. As you finish each toss it into the pan to cook with the meat. Once everything is in there, sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
Once the meat is fully cooked and the veggies are softened (about 10-15 minutes), add your tomato product of choice, and sprinkle with the thyme and cayenne if using. Let it cook for a minute to heat through, then add the wine and scrape the pan as you stir it in. (NOTE: at this point, add the pasta to the boiling water if you are using a thick noodle like a fettucine that takes 10-11 minutes to cook.)
Let the wine bubble and cook until it has reduced (about halfway is the guide Bittman uses). Add your cream/milk at this point and turn the heat as low as it will go so you don't boil the milk. (NOTE: this is when to start cooking your pasta, if using a fine noodle, as you only have a few minutes of cooking left)
After a couple minutes you can turn the heat off under the sauce. Drain your pasta now. Bittman recommends tossing the pasta in with the sauce and serving that way; I prefer to plate the pasta and top with the sauce. Your call. Either way this is the time to add the parmesan, although full disclosure - I put the cheese on the table, and when we tasted the dish it was so flavorful we both completely forgot about the parmesan.
Buon Appetito!
The other night, with snow in the forecast, I was craving Bolognese. Now anyone with a drop of Italian blood knows a decent Bolognese simmers for a good long time, and it was already mid-afternoon by the time I had this idea. So I checked HTCEF, and voila - Spaghetti with Nearly Instant Bolognese. I tweaked the recipe a bit based on what I had on hand and a few other things, but followed his process for the most part. The result, while a stray from traditional, was delicious. Not to toot my own horn...much...but I was kind of impressed with myself. The ingredients are things you mostly have on hand or can sub easily, making this a great late-afternoon-cold-weather-lazy quick dinner.
The slowest bit was the chopping, and Bittman recommends doing that while the meat simmers (or even, if you are already multi-tasking here, just pop them all in the food process for a sec). I chopped ahead of time but that's just my preference and it did add time doing it my way. This, like the baked chicken & squash soup menu from last week, has two things cooking at once so you can adjust a little as you see fit; the pasta is an approximate timeframe and if you're using a thinner pasta you'll want to wait till the sauce is reducing the wine before you put the pasta in the water, then do a quick salad while those two finish off. The cooking was so quick that I didn't get to take pictures, and then it was so good that leftovers went out the window too.
Meg's Nearly Instant Bolognese
Adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Fast
Should serve 4...but don't expect leftovers with less people!
Kosher salt & fresh ground pepper
Olive oil
~1 lb ground meat (I used turkey because it was there, the recipe suggests meatball meats - beef/pork/veal, so whatever you have on hand should work)
1 small onion or equivalent shallots
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup tomato paste (if you only happen to have, say, a can of diced tomatoes, that's fine too, and particularly with a drier meat like turkey you can use the whole can)
1/2 cup red wine
1/4 cup of cream (which I didn't have, so used a splash of milk)
Pinch of dried thyme
Dash of cayenne (optional; not enough to make it spicy - just enough to brighten the flavors, and people might not even realize it's in there)
Pasta (shape & size of your choosing)
freshly grated parmesan
Get the pasta water going (don't forget to salt it! This is an overlooked but important step and your noodles will thank you). Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium high and add a glug of oil (about a tablespoon or two, not a ton). Once the oil is hot, add the meat and cook, breaking it up with a wood or silicone spoon. While that cooks, trim and finely the carrot, onion, garlic, and celery. As you finish each toss it into the pan to cook with the meat. Once everything is in there, sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
Once the meat is fully cooked and the veggies are softened (about 10-15 minutes), add your tomato product of choice, and sprinkle with the thyme and cayenne if using. Let it cook for a minute to heat through, then add the wine and scrape the pan as you stir it in. (NOTE: at this point, add the pasta to the boiling water if you are using a thick noodle like a fettucine that takes 10-11 minutes to cook.)
Let the wine bubble and cook until it has reduced (about halfway is the guide Bittman uses). Add your cream/milk at this point and turn the heat as low as it will go so you don't boil the milk. (NOTE: this is when to start cooking your pasta, if using a fine noodle, as you only have a few minutes of cooking left)
After a couple minutes you can turn the heat off under the sauce. Drain your pasta now. Bittman recommends tossing the pasta in with the sauce and serving that way; I prefer to plate the pasta and top with the sauce. Your call. Either way this is the time to add the parmesan, although full disclosure - I put the cheese on the table, and when we tasted the dish it was so flavorful we both completely forgot about the parmesan.
Buon Appetito!
Friday, January 9
Sunday Suppers: The 45-Minute Edition
(Caveat, because I hate all those 30-minute recipes that have tons of prep time - this could have some prep time. A little planning can offset that, though. Read on...)
So it was 4:45 on Sunday. Rainy, gloomy, dark. A miserable January day, except warmish, which had the odd effect of being more irritating because, well, JANUARY. I didn't want to go out to the store but hadn't planned a thing for dinner. Most nights, I'm good with cobbling something together and seeing what happens, but Sundays...well, it's Sunday Dinner. It ought to be a higher bar, in my opinion. But I wasn't open to going outside, so that left...the freezer. A dark and mysterious place, with many well-intentioned but since-forgotten packets.
And what to my wondering eyes...oh right sorry. January. Habits and all that.
So I poked around and found some forgotten chicken things and some cubed squash from a few CSA pickups ago. I don't know about you all but in the fall we went CRAZY with the squash, roasting it six ways to Tuesday. So that's good and all...but I'm kind of over it. I was feeling like soup, but a low-complication soup. Google to the rescue! I merged a couple recipes, and got this. This soup was flavorful and creamy, but with limited actual creamy ingredients and a relatively short cooking time. The biggest complication, frankly, was waiting for everything to defrost. I made kale chips to pass the time. And full disclosure about the squash: I used both butternut and Hubbard squash, because that's what I had. Delicata might work too, although I think acorn would be too savory. Butternut just sounds better in the title than "Any Squash You Have Soup," don't you think?
The chicken is one of my go-to's - easy, comforting, and aromatic, if maybe not 100% healthy as it basically cooks in its own fat. But whatever. I stuck that in the oven, and made the soup while the chicken cooked. Add a quick salad, and you're done. If you think of this the night before and pull everything out of the freezer, you dodge the only complication. (Yes, this assumes you have squash in the freezer. If you don't and this sounds good to you, keep an eye out for it - you can chop and freeze it raw very easily.) The particular seasoning combination in the soup is just right for January - the allspice and clove have a lingering holiday-ish aroma, but the cumin takes that and gives it an almost Middle Eastern spin to get you out of the rut.
Chicken:
Bone-in Chicken Thighs (2 per person, roughly)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking dish (like a Pyrex or that depth, not a baking sheet) with foil. Place your desired number of chicken breasts in there - I've done as few as two and up to 6, but it's really more about how many you want and will fit in your dish without crowding them. Generously sprinkle your preferred seasonings on them - I prefer Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Salt, as it seems to hit all the right poultry notes and is good and salty. I confess to not really knowing what's in it, though. I would think if you wanted something fresher you could use any good poultry friendly herbs, and some salt and pepper. Anyway: coat it, and stick the dish in the oven, uncovered, for 45 minutes (or a few minutes more if you like the skin particularly crispy).
While the chicken cooks...
Butternut Squash Soup
1/4 cup chopped onion [*prep shortcut: shake in some dehydrated minced onion. Works fine with all the liquid.]
~2 1/2 tablespoons butter
4 cups peeled and cubed butternut (or other winter) squash
2-3 cups chicken stock
Generous dash of allspice
Generous dash of ground cloves
Generous dash of cumin
Generous pinch of dried thyme
Something cream-based (in my case, it was about 3 tablespoons of leftover whipped cream cheese and a dash of milk. Got some heavy cream left from a holiday recipe? Dump it in. I'd probably draw the line at eggnog, though...I imagine, since this is more of a texturizer than a flavor add, you could make this healthy fairly easily - maybe some greek yogurt (plain), or even a chunk of ripe avocado. Play with it!)
In a large saucepan or stockpot, melt the butter. If using fresh onions, saute until tender. If using dehydrated: add about half a cup of the stock and the dehydrated onions, and let cook for a few minutes. Add squash, the rest of the stock, and all seasonings. Bring to boil, then lower heat to a brisk simmer and cook 15-20 minutes, or until squash is tender.
Add whatever creamy ingredient you've chosen and give it a little stir. Puree the whole thing with a stick blender, leave on a gentle simmer for a few minutes to get back up to hot, and do NOT boil.
Your chicken and your soup will probably be done at about the same time - but you have flexibility here. The soup can hang out on a low simmer for a few minutes if you need it to, and the chicken can stay on keep warm or even come out and rest while the soup finishes or while you throw together your salad.
So it was 4:45 on Sunday. Rainy, gloomy, dark. A miserable January day, except warmish, which had the odd effect of being more irritating because, well, JANUARY. I didn't want to go out to the store but hadn't planned a thing for dinner. Most nights, I'm good with cobbling something together and seeing what happens, but Sundays...well, it's Sunday Dinner. It ought to be a higher bar, in my opinion. But I wasn't open to going outside, so that left...the freezer. A dark and mysterious place, with many well-intentioned but since-forgotten packets.
And what to my wondering eyes...oh right sorry. January. Habits and all that.
So I poked around and found some forgotten chicken things and some cubed squash from a few CSA pickups ago. I don't know about you all but in the fall we went CRAZY with the squash, roasting it six ways to Tuesday. So that's good and all...but I'm kind of over it. I was feeling like soup, but a low-complication soup. Google to the rescue! I merged a couple recipes, and got this. This soup was flavorful and creamy, but with limited actual creamy ingredients and a relatively short cooking time. The biggest complication, frankly, was waiting for everything to defrost. I made kale chips to pass the time. And full disclosure about the squash: I used both butternut and Hubbard squash, because that's what I had. Delicata might work too, although I think acorn would be too savory. Butternut just sounds better in the title than "Any Squash You Have Soup," don't you think?
The chicken is one of my go-to's - easy, comforting, and aromatic, if maybe not 100% healthy as it basically cooks in its own fat. But whatever. I stuck that in the oven, and made the soup while the chicken cooked. Add a quick salad, and you're done. If you think of this the night before and pull everything out of the freezer, you dodge the only complication. (Yes, this assumes you have squash in the freezer. If you don't and this sounds good to you, keep an eye out for it - you can chop and freeze it raw very easily.) The particular seasoning combination in the soup is just right for January - the allspice and clove have a lingering holiday-ish aroma, but the cumin takes that and gives it an almost Middle Eastern spin to get you out of the rut.
45 Minute Sunday Supper: Baked Chicken Things & Butternut Squash Soup
Bone-in Chicken Thighs (2 per person, roughly)
Seasoning of your choosing
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking dish (like a Pyrex or that depth, not a baking sheet) with foil. Place your desired number of chicken breasts in there - I've done as few as two and up to 6, but it's really more about how many you want and will fit in your dish without crowding them. Generously sprinkle your preferred seasonings on them - I prefer Jane's Krazy Mixed-Up Salt, as it seems to hit all the right poultry notes and is good and salty. I confess to not really knowing what's in it, though. I would think if you wanted something fresher you could use any good poultry friendly herbs, and some salt and pepper. Anyway: coat it, and stick the dish in the oven, uncovered, for 45 minutes (or a few minutes more if you like the skin particularly crispy).
While the chicken cooks...
Butternut Squash Soup
1/4 cup chopped onion [*prep shortcut: shake in some dehydrated minced onion. Works fine with all the liquid.]
~2 1/2 tablespoons butter
4 cups peeled and cubed butternut (or other winter) squash
2-3 cups chicken stock
Generous dash of allspice
Generous dash of ground cloves
Generous dash of cumin
Generous pinch of dried thyme
Something cream-based (in my case, it was about 3 tablespoons of leftover whipped cream cheese and a dash of milk. Got some heavy cream left from a holiday recipe? Dump it in. I'd probably draw the line at eggnog, though...I imagine, since this is more of a texturizer than a flavor add, you could make this healthy fairly easily - maybe some greek yogurt (plain), or even a chunk of ripe avocado. Play with it!)
In a large saucepan or stockpot, melt the butter. If using fresh onions, saute until tender. If using dehydrated: add about half a cup of the stock and the dehydrated onions, and let cook for a few minutes. Add squash, the rest of the stock, and all seasonings. Bring to boil, then lower heat to a brisk simmer and cook 15-20 minutes, or until squash is tender.
Add whatever creamy ingredient you've chosen and give it a little stir. Puree the whole thing with a stick blender, leave on a gentle simmer for a few minutes to get back up to hot, and do NOT boil.
Your chicken and your soup will probably be done at about the same time - but you have flexibility here. The soup can hang out on a low simmer for a few minutes if you need it to, and the chicken can stay on keep warm or even come out and rest while the soup finishes or while you throw together your salad.
Friday, March 29
Sprung!
I'm typing from the inside of a sunbeam. A sunbeam! This is so exciting - not just because it's Seattle and it rains a lot. No, this is more because it's Seattle...and we're kind of far north. For a long stretch in the winter, the sun - when it happens to come out in the middle of the day to begin with - never makes it high enough in the sky to make it into the interior courtyard of my building, which my apartment faces. I know it's over there...but it never shows itself. But now! Now my patio is awash in sun, my desk is a warm and happy place, and my cat is writhing in ecstasy in a sun patch in the next room.
There really is nothing like early spring, amirite? That first warm day: bare feet and cropped pants, iced coffee, chirping birds, picnic-planning with EPB (who is now EPFiance, so I guess he needs a new acronym). Best of all, though, there are actual!fresh!delicious! things in the produce section. Lunches are suddenly much more interesting - today's was a big fresh salad, with fresh asparagus and chickpeas (okay, those aren't "fresh", but they were good) with a lemon vinaigrette and fresh pepper. You can't get springier. It was marvelous. I used to be afraid of asparagus. If you don't know how to cook them you can rapidly slide down a complicated path of blanching AND sauteing, or roasting them to death, or other complicated disasters. No more! Thanks, Alton Brown.
Welcome, spring!
Simple and Delicious Vinaigrette
It's a personal thing, a homemade salad dressing. I like mine on the basic side. The general rule of thumb is 1 part acid to 2 parts oil, with seasonings if you want. Add your acids first, then the salt and other seasonings - they'll dissolve better before you add the oil. Then add your oil, whisk aggressively, and you're all set. My current go-to, in the order you should combine: 1 part balsamic, 1 part lemon juice (fresh if you have it), a generous pinch of salt, a pinch of dried whole thyme (crush it as if your hands were a mortar and pestle as you add it to the container), and a generous grinding of fresh pepper. Mix. Then add two parts good extra virgin olive oil - and if you have a lightly flavored oil, like a pepper-infused one i'm enjoying right now, make it 1 part that and 1 part unflavored oil. Mix, taste, adjust as needed.
Easiest possible way to make asparagus
Ingredients
1/4 cup water
1 pound fresh asparagus, 1 to 1 1/2 inches cut off the bottom [*note from your blogger: don't get too technical here, just snap them - the stalk will break where it's supposed to*]
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Pour or spritz the water onto 4 paper towels. Spread out the paper towels and lay the asparagus on top of the dampened towels. Sprinkle with the salt. Roll up the asparagus in the dampened towels. Lay the bundle, seam side down, in the microwave. Microwave on high until the asparagus is just crisp tender, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from the microwave using tongs and carefully unwrap. Arrange on a serving platter and serve immediately.
Monday, February 25
We all need a little kick right about now
So. Here we are, most of the way through February. (Yes, really. That happened.) You are back in the crazed day-to-day with no warm and fuzzy holidays in sight, it's still cold and gross out for most of you, and spring break, for those few of you that can actually still do that, is way too far off. The early winter appeal of cooking great grand meals for cozy nights has faded entirely, and it's still too early for most fresh and interesting produce to inspire. You want dinner, and quickly, but still something interesting, and probably something frugal. Turns out, this exists - and it mostly uses things you're likely to have on hand, and if not can be substituted to a certain extent.
I'm a fan of this pork cutlet recipe - it's easy, it's fast (honestly, 30 minutes start to finish - and more like 15 if you take shortcuts) and it's got a little kick to keep it from being too boring, and you can easier adjust the amount of kick for your particular audience. I like to practically crust the cutlets in pepper when I sear them and not skimp on the red pepper in the sauce, but that's just what works for me.
Generally, the ingredient amounts - at least in my experience - are really just suggestions. I don't think I've measured anything any of the times I've made this, probably because it's a recipe for 4 and I've only made this for 1 so far - at least before tonight, when I cooked up a whole batch of 6 cutlets, which once again is not precisely what the recipe calls for. So yes, very adjustable!
Bonus: the recipe calls for wine, so if you're going to open a bottle anyway...
Spicy Italian Pork Cutlets
(adapted from Allrecipes)
INGREDIENTS:
DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat roughly 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat - just drizzle some in - you're not deep-frying, so adjust for the number of cutlets you're making. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper, and sear very quickly on both sides - it'll finish cooking later, so don't overdo it here. Probably a good idea to have a splatter screen handy, too. Remove from the pan, and set aside.
2. Heat the remaining olive oil in the skillet over medium-high heat, and saute the garlic about 30 seconds - probably less if you're using paste. Mix in the tomato, chicken broth, wine, parsley, and red pepper flakes. Cook and stir until thickened, about 2 minutes.
3. Return the pork chops to the skillet, and continue cooking 5 to 10 minutes, to an internal temperature of 145 degrees F (63 degrees C). Serve pork with the tomato and broth mixture from the skillet. [*it's worth noting that when I first printed this recipe the safety guidelines for pork hadn't been changed yet, so it said 160 degrees - but the exact same cooking time. Either way I found this to be too long - it was 4 minutes at most in my case. There's room for error since it's in liquid so won't get TOO tough, but keep any eye on it - it's going to be an individual judgement call, since getting a meat thermometer into a thin cutlet is easier said than done. It also is affected, obviously, by how long you sear it earlier in the recipe, so be quick about that.*]
The original recipe suggests putting this with buttered noodles - I put it over a pile of whole wheat couscous from Trader Joe's, which soaked up the extra broth nicely, and was probably healthier - plus, if you start it at the same time as you first begin this recipe, it's done at about the same time with minimal effort required. All it really needs is a decent-sized salad along side and you're set.
I'm a fan of this pork cutlet recipe - it's easy, it's fast (honestly, 30 minutes start to finish - and more like 15 if you take shortcuts) and it's got a little kick to keep it from being too boring, and you can easier adjust the amount of kick for your particular audience. I like to practically crust the cutlets in pepper when I sear them and not skimp on the red pepper in the sauce, but that's just what works for me.
Generally, the ingredient amounts - at least in my experience - are really just suggestions. I don't think I've measured anything any of the times I've made this, probably because it's a recipe for 4 and I've only made this for 1 so far - at least before tonight, when I cooked up a whole batch of 6 cutlets, which once again is not precisely what the recipe calls for. So yes, very adjustable!
Bonus: the recipe calls for wine, so if you're going to open a bottle anyway...
Spicy Italian Pork Cutlets
(adapted from Allrecipes)
INGREDIENTS:
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided
- 4 boneless pork chops, pounded to 1/4 inch thick [*I've never actually pounded - first time the cutlets were already pretty thin, the second time I just sliced them off a loin I had defrosted. Also worth noting that my cutlets tend to be small, so I allow two per serving.*]
- salt and pepper to taste
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced [*shortcut option: garlic paste works fine although maybe isn't as interesting a presentation at the end*]
- 1 large tomato, diced [*another shortcut - I tend to make this with canned diced. A bit more sodium but much faster and you get more flavorful juice in the recipe*]
- 1/3 cup chicken broth [*roughly*]
- 1/4 cup dry white wine [*again, roughly - whatever looks good to your eye. Also, I stand by the rule of not cooking with cheap junk wine - you're going to have to do something with the rest of the bottle, so use something you'll drink, or pull a Martha Stewart and freeze leftover cubes for...I don't really know what. I feel like frozen wine would just complicate a recipe, particularly one like this. But whatever floats your boat.*]
- 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley [*I always forget this. It's still good.*]
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat roughly 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat - just drizzle some in - you're not deep-frying, so adjust for the number of cutlets you're making. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper, and sear very quickly on both sides - it'll finish cooking later, so don't overdo it here. Probably a good idea to have a splatter screen handy, too. Remove from the pan, and set aside.
2. Heat the remaining olive oil in the skillet over medium-high heat, and saute the garlic about 30 seconds - probably less if you're using paste. Mix in the tomato, chicken broth, wine, parsley, and red pepper flakes. Cook and stir until thickened, about 2 minutes.
3. Return the pork chops to the skillet, and continue cooking 5 to 10 minutes, to an internal temperature of 145 degrees F (63 degrees C). Serve pork with the tomato and broth mixture from the skillet. [*it's worth noting that when I first printed this recipe the safety guidelines for pork hadn't been changed yet, so it said 160 degrees - but the exact same cooking time. Either way I found this to be too long - it was 4 minutes at most in my case. There's room for error since it's in liquid so won't get TOO tough, but keep any eye on it - it's going to be an individual judgement call, since getting a meat thermometer into a thin cutlet is easier said than done. It also is affected, obviously, by how long you sear it earlier in the recipe, so be quick about that.*]
The original recipe suggests putting this with buttered noodles - I put it over a pile of whole wheat couscous from Trader Joe's, which soaked up the extra broth nicely, and was probably healthier - plus, if you start it at the same time as you first begin this recipe, it's done at about the same time with minimal effort required. All it really needs is a decent-sized salad along side and you're set.
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