Flamenquines

I've always loved Mario Batali, from his orange crocs to his orange pony tail! He's one of the best cooks on TV and I love his flair for different but easy dishes! My sister told me about a recipe he cooked on Oprah's show called "Flamenquines". I can't pronounce it but last night I tried it! It was very good and easy too.

Here's the recipe...

Flamenquines

• 8 1/2-inch thick boneless pork loin chops (3 ounces each)
• Freshly ground pepper
• 8 thin slices of serrano ham
• All-purpose flour , for dusting
• 2 large eggs
• 1 Tbsp. milk
• 1 1/4 cups dry bread crumbs
• Pure olive oil , for frying
• Mayonnaise , for serving

Working with 1 pork chop at a time, place in a resealable plastic bag and pound into a 1/4-inch-thick cutlet. Arrange the cutlets on a work surface and season with pepper. Cover each cutlet with a slice of ham and, starting with the short end, roll tightly into a cylinder. Dust with the flour.

In a shallow bowl, beat the eggs with the milk. Put the bread crumbs in another shallow bowl. Dip the pork rolls in the egg mixture, then in the bread crumbs, pressing them on lightly. Transfer to a plate.

In a large skillet, heat 1/4 inch of oil until shimmering. Add the pork rolls and fry over moderate heat, turning, until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center registers 155°, about 5 minutes. Transfer the rolls to paper towels. Serve hot, with mayonnaise.

The breaded pork rolls can be refrigerated overnight. Let return to room temperature before frying.

We didn't use the mayo, we just had it as is and it was very good! Mario recommended having it with fried potatoes ... so we did!





Kitchen Stores

That pepper grinder in the photos was my deal of the day, yesterday. Two of my sisters and I went on a road trip and went to the Tanger Outlet Mall about 75 miles away from home. We had the day off work for Columbus Day. There are two kitchen stores in the mall and that's where we all spent our money and most of our time. I got that cute red pepper grinder at one of the stores. It was on sale from $30 to $16 and then they took 50% off of that...so I paid only $8 for it. I got a bottle of those great colorful pepper corns and it's wonderful! I got all kinds of cool stuff. I've always wanted a set of those cutting boards that are color-coded for food safety and found a set really cheap. I got some utensils I've been needing...a large stainless steel whisk, some bamboo spoons...all kinds of gadgets. But the best thing of all was the brand new Professional 600 Kitchen Aid mixer I bought. I also got attachments that grind meat, slice veggies, and juice fruits and veggies.

We also went to the Amana Colonies for lunch and to do a little more shopping. I got a pair of wool mittens from the woolen mill and got Andy some meat sticks from the Amish meat market. We had lunch in a German restaurant. Not the best service, but the food was good. It was a great day for shopping and great to spend some time with my sisters.

Post Timing

Just so you don't all worry about me and my recent sleep habits, I discovered a neat feature of this blogdom. Sally mentioned in a comment Sunday that she thought I wasn't sleeping since my post was posted at 1 a.m. I need to explain. A couple weeks ago I found out that you can time a post to be automatically posted whenever you set the time. When I have time, I've been writing two or three posts and then setting the times so they get posted when I want them to. Actually I've been sleeping quite well lately. I just set the times so they go off in the night and that way I can check on them when I have a few minutes before I go to work early in the morning. And if you notice something weird, like me saying today when I mean to say yesterday, you'll understand. I try to fix those mistakes but I may miss a few. For instance, I'm typing this post Monday evening and it won't be posted until tomorrow in the wee hours of the morning.