Holy crap, y’all. I cooked twice this week and not only lived to tell the tale, I also took pictures. After all of the working I’ve been doing, this hit the spot.
See? See? It’s true! The cook thing in my screen name isn’t all a vile lie. Pinky-swear.
This is roughly– very– based on this recipe from January’s Bon Appetit recipe. I liked the basic idea, but, well, I thought it needed some changes, spice-wise.
I pre-salted and spiced my chops two hours before serving with a teaspoon each (be not afraid to be bold, we’re going for layers of flavor) sweet curry powder, cayenne, cumin and ground coriander, then let them rest (covered in plastic wrap, because we have a MOUSE in the house, rrrrrrr) at room temperature.
You pan-sear the chops to your desired level of done-ness. Mine was medium-rare, about 7 minutes. Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything (if you don’t own it, you should, even if you’re a good cook) has great done-ness temps and times charts at the back of his book.
I steamed the cauliflower as ordered, but in place of the regular dressing, I did this:
2 bunches scallions, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2– 2/3 plain full-fat yogurt, chopped
2 limes, juiced and zested (these are trying times, friends, don’t waste the rind)
a large pinch of salt
2 dashes tabasco
2 tablespoons mango conserve
I would have used chutney and the cream sauce like the recipe said, but the co-op was out, they’re quirky like that. They did have the plain conserve, however, and thus the ersatz yogurt chutney idea was born. It was yummy, even the husband said so, and he’s not a fan of yogurt at all.
Serve with some clementines or a peeled orange and one of those bottles of champagne you didn’t open at New Year’s.
that looks really good