Last night, 2:30 AM, the doorbell rings. At first I thought it was because the power had gone out- sometime it rings when the power has a quick off & back on. I got out of bed anyway to see what was up. (WHY you might ask? I have no answers for that except its kind of hard the think rationally that quick) I go down stairs and there is a car in the driveway with its headlights blaring into the house (or it seemed that way in the dark) and sure enough there is someone at the door. At this point I'm thinking to myself- what kind of idiot opens the door in the middle of the night to a stranger ringing the doorbell. The other (sleeping) part of my brain answers if they were here to do harm, would they park in the driveway with the lights on? Apparently the sleeping side of the brain had a better argument and I opened the door to find a police officer at the door!!
He was doing patrol and noticed that my car door was open and was afraid someone had broken in. I very nicely explained that no, it was my @*$&#&* kids (OK, I left the $*%^&$& part out, but that is defiantly what I was thinking!!!), that were supposed to go back out and get that box the was sitting right there in the open door and then shut up the car. So I go out, get the box, close the door and attempt to go back to sleep. Not so easy after be awoken at 2:30 am by the police! Who, by the way, was from Tiverton, not even my town. He totally went out of his way, offered to call the LC police if necessary, and was very observant as the lights in the car weren't on or anything. So here is my shout out to the Tiverton Police Dept & the unknown officer who is not afraid to ring doorbells in the middle of the night. If that car were not approaching 100,000 miles and I would be thrilled if anyone stole it- I would be so grateful for your hard work. And to my kids- you better start remembering to close the car doors!!
On to the food. I finally made the Panko Crusted Mustard Pork Cutlets last night. We went out to dinner to celebrate out signed P&S (and as a reward for making it thru school shopping sane) the night before. It was a huge disappointment & I wish we had not wasted the $, but oh well. Here is the recipe found on Epicurious.com here and originally from Bon Appetit, with my changes.
8oz panko (one box Japanese breadcrumbs)
2 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large egg
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoon mayonnaise
2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
one package (mine was 2.84lbs) pork sirloin cutlets
Combine first 3 ingredients on plate. Whisk egg and 3 tablespoons water in medium bowl to blend. Whisk mayonnaise and mustard in small bowl. Dredge pork cutlets with mayonnaise-mustard mixture; dip into beaten egg, then coat cutlets with panko crumb mixture. Transfer to plate. Put the pork into the fridge for 10 minutes to let the coating sit.
Heat a small amount of vegetable oil in a heavy medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork; cook until no longer pink on inside and crumbs are golden brown, about 5 minutes per side.
I also brined the pork for a couple hours prior to starting the above recipe. The brine recipe is 8 cups water, 2 tbsp kosher salt & 1/4 cup brown sugar. Combine all into a large bowl. Stir until sugar and salt are dissolved, put pork in the mixture and place into the fridge for a couple hours.
Results: Simple recipe, pretty good. I thought the mustard/mayo flavor would be a bit more pronounced. I did like the sage, and I was glad to use my fresh sage for the first time.
Cost: pork $5.65 (@ $1.99/lb), panko $2.69 (although actually less because I have a little left over), sage & eggs free, other ingredients minimal cost. Again, dinner for 6 less that $10, and I have one whole cutlet left over!
I didn't have to make and sides because I had made this
and a cheese and cracker plate for the new student orientation at the school. My kids ate all the left overs. Sometimes it's worth it to be the volunteer.
Yikes!! No way would I be answering the door in the middle of the night, even to a policeman! But, I'm always on guard for that type of thing because my hubby travels a lot and I'm usually home alone. The pork does sound yummy. I love panko and love mustard even more. Great cheese and fruit plate : ) Hope you can catch up on your sleep tonight: )
ReplyDeleteKristin later told me that she found the "man in the uniform" very attractive and she wasn't really sure if she was having a fantastic dream or not. She came back to bed dissapointed to find no knight in shinin aromor!
ReplyDeleteThat is such a funny story. You are right, you just can't make that kind of stuff up. I would not answer the door in the middle of the night like that. Maybe. Depends on how delusionally tired I am.
ReplyDeleteThat pork looks really good. I haven't had pork in such a long time. I miss it.
I think anonymous has blown his cover :-). Your pork chops look and sound delicious.
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