My goodness! Too much cooking/blogging, too little time. No matter. I’ve been keeping track of new tasty treats in my handy dandy notebook, and I hope to spend the next month or two getting caught up on what I’ve missed. Alas, there are very few pictures involved, as I keep forgetting, but I’ll supplement with stock when I can. On to the food!

Oven-fried chicken, in my mind, was never meant to be a substitute for the real thing. Just like Cheese Whiz and EZCheese are their own distinct foods (and decidedly not cheese), this recipe stands on its own as something I crave. Crisp and sassy, juicy and full of flavor, you may just crave it too.

Oven-Fried Chicken

Ingredients:

• 3 cups whole milk
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon rubbed sage
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 2-3 pounds chicken drumsticks
• 2 cups unseasoned breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup melted butter
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

Combine the first seven ingredients in a large zip-top bag and add chicken. Seal bag, removing as much air as possible, and squish so that chicken is thoroughly coated. Refrigerate overnight.

When ready to cook, remove chicken and drain, discarding milk mixture. Preheat oven to 425° F. In a shallow dish or pie pan, combine breadcrumbs, melted butter, paprika, and garlic powder. Dredge chicken in breading and place on sheet pan. Bake for 45 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165° F. Serve hot or cold.

Garlic-herb pork chops with cranberry-tamarind sauce over noodles with browned butter and almonds. It’s a heck of a mouthful, isn’t it? Okay, so maybe I should have named it “Pork a la Crappy Tuesday”, but that, while shorter, doesn’t sound quite so appetizing. I realized around 5:30 yesterday that I forgot to defrost meat in advance for dinner, and so grabbed the first thing I found that could fit in our microwave for a quick defrost: pork chops. I don’t advocate defrosting meat in the microwave, mind you. The edges get rubbery, and there’s questionable food temperatures going on in there…I’d omit it in the retelling for food safety’s sake, but it’s an important part of the story.

Right…so there I stood in the kitchen, with my mind on my truck rather than my dinner (I had just gotten back from the garage, and my poor pickup needs some major – although fortuntely warranty-covered – surgery). As the pork chops spun circles in the microwave, I tried to figure out what the hell I was going to do for dinner. It’s been a few months since our last major supply run (yes, we shopone a quarter or so for staples. We have a large freezer, a pantry that takes up most of our dining room, and we’re weird like that.) and so whatever I put together was bound to be some sort of refrigerator velc…er, refrigerator hook-and-loop tape. This is probably more accruately pantry velcro, but that’s neither here nor there.

Hm. Perhaps I should have called this Parenthetical Comments and Tangents Pork. Anyway…Ding goes the pork. I start with a basic dredge-and-fry, add a little citrus, a little egg noodle goodness, a little crunch…what started out as “WTF is for dinner?!?!” ended up as a plate of balanced flavors and yum.

I know that my pantry is a bit unique, and that many folks out there won’t happen to have tamarind paste, a handful of almonds, and rubbed sage just lying around, but experiment with what you do have! (Or make this as written…it’s quite tasty.) Kitchen experimentation can lead to Dishes of Awesome (like this), meals that are rather mediocre (I made hot dog and pea risotto once), and occasionally some spectacular failures…but you don’t find the Dishes of Awesome unless you try.

Garlic-Herb Pork Chops with Cranberry-Tamarind Sauce over Noodles with Browned Butter and Almonds

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon garlic powder, divided
• 3 teaspoons dried tarragon, crushed, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
• 1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
• 6 boneless pork chops
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 5 tablespoons butter, divided
• 8 ounces egg noodles
• 1/4 cup chopped or slivered almonds
• 2 teaspoons seasoning salt
• 1/2 cup jellied cranberry sauce
• 2 tablespoons tamarind paste
• 1/2 cup dark rum

Place flour, 1 tablespoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon tarragon, sage, and black pepper in a shallow bowl or large zip-top bag and stir or shake to combine. Dredge pork chops in seasoned flour; set aside. Preheat oven to its lowest setting (ours goes to 190°) and place a piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil on the top rack. Set a large pot of salted water to boil.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a large sauté pan over medium-low heat. Add vegetable oil. Add three pork chops and cook until browned on one side; flip and cook until just brown on the other side. Remove to foil in warm oven and repeat with remaining chops. Add noodles to boiling water and cook until just al-dente.Drain.

Heat cranberry sauce in a small pot set over low heat. Whisk occasionally. When cranberry sauce has melted and is smooth, remove from heat and stir in tamarind, remaining tarragon, and rum. Return to the stove and increase heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring frequently, until alchol has evaporated and sauce begins to thicken slightly. Remove from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Over low heat, melt the remaining butter in the pan used to cook the pork. Increase heat slightly and cook until butter begins to brown. Add almonds and toss. Add drained noodles and toss to combine. Increase heat to medium-high and cook for 3-5 minutes or until noodles begin to color. (Take care not to burn the almonds.) Add seasoned salt and remaining garlic just before serving.

To plate, place pork chops on a bed of almond noodles and drizzle with sauce. Serve immediately.

Image by Daxiang Stef
Regionally known as stuffing, filling, and dressing, this bread-based side dish is a staple at the American holiday table. If you’ve never made your own stuffing, step away from the Stove Top canister and give this a try. It’s a departure from traditional stuffing recipes in that it uses breadcrumbs instead of bread cubes, but your guests won’t miss the extra bulk. When I was tasked with preparing the family Thanksgiving dinner at the tender age of 19, I served this stuffing, and it became an instant family classic.

Sage and Onion Stuffing

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 onions, diced
• 4 whole cloves
• 6 whole peppercorns
• 1/2 cup water
• 6 fresh sage leaves, chopped
• 2 cups finely ground plain bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a large sautee pan over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring often, until they begin to color. Add cloves and peppercorns; sautee for one minute, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low, add water, and simmer until onions are soft but not mushy. Strain onion mixture, reserving liquid.

Combine onions, bread crumbs, sage, and chicken broth in a large bowl, stirring until thoroughly combined. Stuffing should be moist enough to form a ball if compressed; if it is too dry, add the reserved onion broth. Turn mixture out into a shallow baking pan (do not pack down) and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serves 4.