Quick Pesto Pork Chops

My Italian great grandparents came to the United States in 1918 when they were teenagers. They lived in Queens and did normal Italian American practices such as have a tomato garden and make wine in their cellar. When my Midwestern grandmother from Kansas married my grandfather during his time at McConnell Air Force base, she flew back to live with him. My red headed German Dutch grandma had to learn how to make Italian food.

One of the greatest things she still makes is pesto sauce. We invited her over for dinner last weekend, and she brought us a Rubbermaid container of her homemade basil pesto. I have never eaten anything green that was this tasty.

I have yet to learn her recipe as she promised she would tell me, but have been fun creating dishes to accompany it with. This evening my husband and I made Pesto Pork Chops.
I had never made them before, but I looked up a few recipes online and compared them, fusing a few things together and added my own touches. I used ideas that spread the pesto over the chop on one side and sprinkling cheese on top to seal it. I added heating minced garlic in olive oil beforehand and simmering the chops in a touch of dry white wine. 

Making a quick version of this recipe was important because we had errands to run this evening. The recipe took no less than ten minutes to prepare four thin pork chops, of the cheap variety of course. If we had used a better pork chop, I would have eaten a whole pig’s worth because each bite was a shock of flavor that ran from the tip of tongue to my fingertips. I credit my grandmother’s pesto that she learned how to make from my great grandmother, but any pesto would be worthy of this quick concoction. 

You will notice that I do not have a finished picture of the plated dish. This is because they were too tasty and were gone before it could be done!

Ingredients

Olive oil cooking spray

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 tsp garlic, minced

4 thinly cut boneless pork chops

¼ cup dry white wine

4 tbsp pesto sauce

4 tsp grated romano, Locatelli Pecorino Romano preferred


Directions

1. Spray a little olive oil spray into a skillet in order to cut down in the amount of olive oil used. Add the olive and garlic. Heat it until warm and you can smell the garlic.

2. Add the pork chops and pour the wine over them. Cook the one side of the pork chop. You will not be able to turn back to this side after the next step, so make sure it is done to your liking. 

3. Turn the pork chops over. Spread 1 tbsp of pesto over the top of each pork chop. Top the pesto with the cheese. The cheese will get slightly melted.

4. Continue cooking the pork chops with the pesto side up until the center has reached at 145 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Bombolini Pasta

I was so excited to try Bombolini Pasta that I placed on my Bucket List for this summer. In order to prepare for my excursion, I checked out their website (http://www.bombolinipasta.com/) and read the biographies of the couple who founded it. I looked at the products and created some ideas of what to purchase. Then, I called my grandma and asked her if she wanted to have an Italian fest the next day. It was pizza and Bombolini Day!

When we drove up, I cheered because they had a mini parking lot. YAY! Next, walking in, I saw that two people who were working behind the counter were the owners. Immediately as we walked in, they greeted us with a large welcome and began telling us about the shop after asking if we had been there before. John Kreckman, one of the owners, even offered us a sample of a red wine he was selling.

Bombolini Pasta has fresh pasta that comes with different flavors and cuts. You can purchase the long cuts in the store by choice, and they will cut it there for you! The smaller cuts, such as the ravioli and penne, come prepackaged. I ended up purchasing Sausage Ravioli and Black Pepper Fettuccine.

Since we are preparing to move, we used these purchases to help clean out our fridge. We made our Sausage Ravioli just from things we had in the fridge, freezer, and pantry. The Black Pepper Mushroom Fettuccine was more of a masterpiece that was created from many thoughts and careful planning. The recipes are below.

Black Pepper Mushroom Fettuccine Recipe

Ingredients

4 Tbsp olive oil

4 large Portobello Mushroom Caps, thickly sliced

½ yellow onion, diced

1 Tbsp garlic, minced

¼ cup butter

3 Tbsp cooking sherry

Juice from ½ lemon

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 lb Black Pepper Fettuccine, cooked (or any cooked pasta)

Method

1. Heat olive oil and garlic in a large frying pan

2. When oil is hot, add the mushrooms and onion and cook on medium low heat until the mushrooms reduce in size and become soft

3. Add the sherry and lemon. Continue cooking until flavors have combined, about an additional three minutes

4. Serve mushroom mixture and sauce over cooked pasta

Clean out the Pantry Sausage Ravioli Recipe

Ingredients

1 lb Italian Sausage

1 lb Diced Canned Tomatoes (Redpack Preferred)

1 jar Italian Sausage Pasta Sauce (I used Classico)

1 lb cooked sausage ravioli

Method

1. In a large frying pan, cook the sausage, then drain the fat.

2. Add the sausage back to the pan. Add the tomatoes and sauce. Heat the mixture until desired warmth.

3. Spoon sausage and sauce mixture over ravioli. 

Semolina Bread

Growing up Long Island, New York, we always had a grocery store that baked semolina bread. You may ask me, Sara, what is semolina bread? Well, semolina is a type of flour made from hard wheat that is used by Italians to make pasta. In Italy, they make semolina bread in addition to pasta, which makes a distinct light-colored chewy bread.  My personal favorite attribute of semolina bread is that it sports sesame seeds adorned on its crust!

Now that I live in Virginia, it is rather difficult to find semolina bread, let alone semolina flour. I have a fabulous book with a ton of bread recipes in it, The Illustrated Step By Step to Baking, which had a recipe for it. Oh how I wished I could find semolina flour.

Then one day, I took a trip with a colleague of mine up into the Appalachian Mountains for the Green Valley Book Fair. On our way back, we stopped at an Amish grocery store called Yoder’s. Amongst the really cool things they had at Yoder’s was SEMOLINA FLOUR. I felt as though I struck a gold mine.

I loved making this bread because it was rather easy. I could make it using the stand up mixer, and it worked out marvelous. This means no kneading!

For non-New Yorkers who ever cross paths with Semolina, I suggest pairing it with pasta or making bruschetta with it. Or, my favorite, just lather on the butter and bite!

Semolina Bread Recipe

This recipe yields 1 boule

Ingredients

For the Starter

¼ tsp dried yeast

½ cup fine semolina, or semolina flour

Vegetable oil for greasing

For the Dough

1 tsp dried yeast

2 cups fine semolina, or semolina flour, plus extra for dusting

1 tsp fine salt

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1 egg, beaten for glazing

Method

1. To make the starter, dissolve the yeast in ¼ cup warm water. Add the liquid to the semolina and stir until you have a loose, sloppy dough. Place the dough in a large bowl with lots of room for it to expand. Let it sit in a warm place for about 12 hours, or overnight.
   
2. After the starter has been fully created and let rest, make the dough by dissolving the yeast in ¾ cup of water. Put the risen starter, flour, and salt into a large bowl, or the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the liquid yeast mixture.
3.  Stir the ingredients together. If using a mixer, attach the bread hook and mix on medium speed for 5 -7 minutes (or until it comes together fully and makes a “thwaping” sound). Or, you could knead by hand for about 10 minutes. The finished dough should be smooth and elastic.
4. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and leave to rise in a warm place for about 1 ½ hours, or until doubled in size.
5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knock it back. Shape into your desire shape, place on a large baking sheet, and wrap with a clean kitchen towel. Let it rise until doubled in size, about 1 more hour.
6. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
7. Brush the bread with beaten egg and scatter the sesame seeds on top (I didn’t measure the seeds. Add however much you like).
8. Bake in the center of the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until it is well risen and a light golden brown. Let it cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before serving.
   

Mamma Zu

Mamma Zu
Style: Italian
Website: This place is lucky to be featured on Yelp!, let alone have it's own site. Read on and you'll understand what I mean.

My Rating: 4.5/5

Pros: The food, low key, the food, romantic lighting (meaning hardly any lights), the food, casual atmosphere, the food, when you are waiting for a table you can drink wine, and the food. 

Cons: They only take cash and American Express, everyone else likes them so they are hard to get a table at, chalkboard menu gives character but few details

I go to Mamma Zu's every year for my birthday dinner. Why? Because it is sooo good, but such a hassle. It is one of my most favorite restaurants, but sometimes the hassle makes me wish it wasn't. It's just that the food is so good. Who knew that some of the best Italian food I have ever eaten would be from a dumpy place in Richmond, VA? 

I will start from the beginning. Mamma Zu's is open for dinner at 5:30. We were going to have a reservation which they will take for parties of six or more. However, someone got sick and had to cancel. Therefore, instead of showing up at 5:30, we arrived at 5:10 and waiting IN the LINE that had already formed to get in. It was about 28 degrees and there were snow flurries. We love this place so much that we huddled together and froze to death before we could go in. But one of the best moments of the evening was when they began cooking five minutes before opening and a big whiff of garlic hit us in the face. That's when you know it's going to be a great meal.

Five of us crammed into a booth really created for about 3.5 people. One of us is very overweight, another is over 6 feet and 4 inches tall. Another had to sit at a chair at the end of the booth next to a coat stand with people waiting for a table right behind him. Looking around the restaurant is not an impressive view. It is sort of a dump, but after awhile there are so many people packed into the joint that you don't even notice.

Once we sat down we realized a bad thing... we couldn't see the menu. The menu is a chalk board. My husband had the brilliant idea to take a picture of it and bring it back to the table (see the picture above). When they run out of something, they go over a wipe it clean away. That is a second reason why it's good to get there early.

They always give you bread and there is olive oil on the table for dipping. I like to add salt and red pepper flakes to my oil for a little pizzaz. I recommend getting the broccoli rab with garlic, lemon, and pine nuts for a starter. It gives a whole new meaning to green vegetables.

The portion sizes for the dishes vary. Sometimes you get a monstrous meal, and other times it is just normal eating size. In addition to the food, I always order a cheap table wine for charisma. This time we got the house Merlot which is served in small plain glasses. It reminds me of my childhood when the Italian adults would drink their wine from jelly jars!

My cousin had the squid ink pasta. My husband has had it on a prior visit. It is interesting how my cousin had it in a bowl this time, while my husband had it on a plate once. It is slightly spicy and we love it.

My grandmother ordered the mussels. You can order either a spicy red sauce or a garlic butter sauce. She got the latter. We thought it was just going to come with the mussels. Oh how we were wrong. It was a giant platter with linguine that you could barely see because it was topped with so many mussels you could barely see it. It was very tasty to also dip the bread into the broth that the linguine was sitting in.

One of my staple favorites is the pork chops. This time my husband ordered them. It comes with two very large pork chops over and inch thick. They have a core of black peppercorn pesto in the middle and are served with white beans. The beans are soaking in a rosemary garlic broth which makes them the most delectable bean I have ever eaten. Usually I eat one of the pork chops and take one home. It is enough for two meals.

I tried for something new this time. Once I tried something that was not pork chops and instead I got the lamb meatballs. They were tasty, but I only received three small meatballs. This time I got the Veal Marsala instead of the pork chops. The veal was pounded thin and roasted in a lovely sweet wine gravy. It came with a side of pasta. I only wish that it had mushrooms with the veal.

We finished with a cannoli and tiramisu. Of course they were a delicious way to end the evening  on an amazing note.