dressed-up "normal" dinner 8/10

i haven't been eating meat all that long and i have been cooking it a whole lot less but with tom around to offer his meat expertise i've been more amenable to meaty recipes. so here was one that we thought would be really good. and it was; just not very "special". which is fine. but i don't know if i'd make it again. the sides, on the other hand were great! and definitely worthy of another meal. read on to see why...

from martha's food everyday jan/feb 07

pork cutlets with arugula salad and sauteed tomatoes

serves 4, prep: 30m, total: 40m

what you'll need:

2T fresh lemon juice plus wedges for serving (fomr 2 lemons) or from a plastic bottle with no wedges for serving

6t olive oil

course salt & ground pepper

4 boneless pork loin chops (5oz ea with fat trimmed)

1/4c all purpose flour

1pint cherry grape tomatoes, halved

4 bunches of arugula (1#) again, i used baby spinach here. i don't really care for arugula, especially by itself. to me it's just too bitter. and i love baby spinach!

shaved parmesan cheese for garnish

what to do:

1. make dressing: in a large bowl, combine lemon juice and 1t oil. season with s&p and set aside.

2. place chops on a work surface, butterfly from the side without fat, and open like a book (without cutting all the way through). then pound it flat to 1/4" after placing between plastic wrap. on a plate combine flour, 1t course salt, and 1/4t pepper. coat ea cutlet with flour mix, shaking off excess. set aside.

3. in a medium skillet heat 1t oil on med-hi. add tomatoes and cook until softened (5m). remove tomatoes and set aside.

4. in same skillet, heat 1t oil on med-hi. add 1 cutlet and cook until browned 1-2m. turn and cook until opaque about 30s more. transfer to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. repeat with remaining cutlets.

5. add arugula spinach to bowl with dressing and toss. place tomatoes and 1 cutlet on ea plate along with lemon wedges. top pork with arugula salad and parmesan.

we enjoyed this meal with a nice red wine too. it was a 2005 pino noir by domaine de regusse, vin de pays des alpes de haute pro vence which is a french red that cost less than 10 bucks. recommended as a cheap tasty table red.

so the dish was pretty. pretty normal though. i absolutly LOVED the tomatoes though! who whould've thought cutting and sauteeing them would turn them into such a lovely side dish? this will be a side that will get made in the future. the dressing for the spinach was really light and spring-y tasting too and will probably also make it onto more spinach salads in the future. but the pork wasn't great. tom thought it was good, but normal. my personal bias is that i treat meat like something special; something that i get to order to treat myself when i go out. i have rarely cooked it at home for myself brfore marrying tom and now it's starting to lose it's specialness and be more like a sald has always been to me in the past (as in a "normal" dish; nothing special) and i'm having a little trouble with the notion. i always want meat to taste wonderful and amazing and new but i guess sometimes it'll just taste good. and that's going to have to be good enough. sometimes. the rest of the time i will still have to strive for AMAZING since that's the only thing that keeps me coming back to the kitchen. that and my husband's cute ass! (sorry mom, but it is!) keep eating amazing...