Hey Friends! We're back. Sorry we missed you. One of the Designer Diner Divas went missing, in search of warm weather, sunshine, and sandy beaches. We are back and designing up a storm.
Tonight's dinner is a definite addition to our list of Top 10 favorites.
We started off by cooking white rice and adding Italian seasoning (in the tube) and French Thyme into the water while cooking. Once almost completely done we tossed in craisins and chopped walnuts.
Then we created the glaze for the pork chops. We started with a pineapple / apricot jam then added a bit of pear juice to thin it. Then to cut the sweetness, we added about 1/4 cup molasses, a few dollops of Thai peanut sauce, and a bit of soy sauce. And just because it was still missing something, we added a splash of A1 steak sauce to make the sauce 'pop'! Who knew that adding a bit of steak sauce to something could make it go from blah to WOW!
We took thick cut pork chops, sliced them length wise and stuffed them with the rice mixture and added small chunks of brie cheese and pinned them closed with toothpicks. We spooned the remaining rice around the pork chops in a baking pan and then poured the glaze over everything.
We baked the pork chops and rice uncovered at 350 for about 30 minutes and let it stand a few minutes to let it finish cooking.
What can I say. IT WAS FANTASTIC!
Even the resident doubters who have avoided trying any of the previous dishes had a bite or two and gave it a tentative thumbs up. ;-) I guess we expected higher accolades. But what do they know.....they think vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce is gourmet dining and is as adventurous as they get in their food choices.
That's all for now. Tune in next week for our Monday night Football menu.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Bacon and Spinach wrapped tofu - Menu item #9
Ok gang, this was probably the MOST bizarre combination of ingredients we've played with to date! Our first ingredient was tofu. Bacon soon followed. To make it healthy (haha) we through in some spinach. So here's how it went......
In olive oil, we sauteed onion, fresh garlic, mushrooms, and tossed in the spinach at the end to lightly saute the spinach. We spread that over the bottom of a baking dish. Then we drizzled a sauce of mayo, minced garlic, and Sriracha hot chili sauce.
Then on to the tofu. We cut extra firm tofu into large size french fries, wrapping each with fresh spinach leaves and bacon. Securing both ends with toothpicks. This is really hard to do and it doesn't look pretty. Trust us, it'll taste amazing! Those were placed on the spinach mixture in the pan. More of the hot sauce was drizzled over each tofu strip.
Bake at 350 for approximately 25 minutes (or one bottle of wine), until the bacon looks almost done. Then top with slices of swiss cheese. Bake approximately 10 minutes until the cheese starts melting, then add pine nuts and finish cooking for about 5 minutes.
Remove and let sit to meld flavors and cool off....and more wine. ;-)
We both started out thinking there is no way this would even be edible. We were astounded at how good it turned out. We even used the left over sauce for a little dipping. YUM!!!!
In olive oil, we sauteed onion, fresh garlic, mushrooms, and tossed in the spinach at the end to lightly saute the spinach. We spread that over the bottom of a baking dish. Then we drizzled a sauce of mayo, minced garlic, and Sriracha hot chili sauce.
Then on to the tofu. We cut extra firm tofu into large size french fries, wrapping each with fresh spinach leaves and bacon. Securing both ends with toothpicks. This is really hard to do and it doesn't look pretty. Trust us, it'll taste amazing! Those were placed on the spinach mixture in the pan. More of the hot sauce was drizzled over each tofu strip.
Bake at 350 for approximately 25 minutes (or one bottle of wine), until the bacon looks almost done. Then top with slices of swiss cheese. Bake approximately 10 minutes until the cheese starts melting, then add pine nuts and finish cooking for about 5 minutes.
Remove and let sit to meld flavors and cool off....and more wine. ;-)
We both started out thinking there is no way this would even be edible. We were astounded at how good it turned out. We even used the left over sauce for a little dipping. YUM!!!!
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