1. Debbie and I have a lot going on in late December along with Christmas -- both of us have birthdays late in the month, we have a wedding anniversary on Christmas Eve, and this year, if all goes well, Patrick and Meagan will visit us a day or two before New Year's Eve. Today, Debbie and I talked about how we'd like to celebrate these occasions with Christy and Carol, Paul, and family. Carol had sent out a plan and we responded with a few ideas ourselves. I think it will all come together when Christy, Carol, and Debbie meet at The Bean on December 2nd. It all sounds fun and I trust that a good, but not exhausting, plan will emerge.
2. Debbie drove a friend to Spokane today for a medical appointment. Before she left, Debbie said she was in the mood for a chicken dinner and asked me to get it started. I countered by saying we had some small pork sirloin roasts in the freezer and offered to prepare one of them.
I'm not exaggerating when I say I was ecstatic when Debbie said pork would work great for her.
I love to braise meat and it had been months since I had done so.
I thawed the roast. In the meantime, I looked in my book, No-Recipe Recipes, to see if it covered braising a pork roast. It didn't. I checked out the world of America's Test Kitchen online and all their recipes required a multi-hour marinade. I didn't have time for that.
Somehow, I then accidentally stumbled upon an online article from Bon Appetit that was exactly what I wanted: "How to Braise Meat Without a Recipe".
I read it and went to work.
First I seasoned the roast liberally with salt, pepper, allspice, and rosemary and seared all sides of the roast until they were golden in an olive oil and butter mixture.
I removed the meat, set it aside, and deglazed the Dutch oven with dry vermouth, something I'd never done before, and the rich aroma that rose from the pan nearly intoxicated me.
I added coarsely chopped onion, celery, carrots, and apples coated in cinnamon to the pan, along with generous heaps of chopped cilantro and parsley. We were out of garlic or I would have added it. I sprinkled brown sugar in this mix. I might have added more allspice. As these aromatics and herbs and spices cooked up in the olive oil, butter, vermouth combination in the bottom of the pan, the kitchen and house smelled divine and once all these fragrances were pretty much released, I made a cavity and placed the roast in it, surrounded by all the stuff I'd been cooking. My last move was to add chicken stock, put a lid on the Dutch oven, and put it in the oven at 300 degrees.
I decided to give this small roast an hour to cook and that was just about right. Debbie fixed mashed red potatoes, I removed the pork from the Dutch oven, sliced it, and we served ourselves potatoes, the astonishing braise liquid poured over them, chunks of the firm, not mushy, vegetables, and a slice or two of tender, moist, flavorful braised pork.
Our dinner was not only alive with multiple flavors, but it was warming and comforting.
It was perfect.
Our dinner on Thursday night? Debbie will warm up the braise combined with the chopped up leftover pork slices, and top the mixture off with dumplings.
I can hardly wait!
3. Having enjoyed such a delicious dinner, we decided it was party time.
I fixed us each a hot buttered rum flavored with real maple syrup and Mexican vanilla and our party was on. We yakked and yakked, took breaks -- Debbie did some reading and I took care of Luna and Copper and checked college basketball scores -- and when, after another hot buttered rum, we ran out of rum, I decided to fix myself a drink I'd never tried before, a martini on the rocks. I didn't want to bother with the cocktail shaker and stirring the martini and so I mixed gin and dry vermouth over ice in a martini glass. I also decided to make it a little dirty and added some green olive brine to my drink.
I loved it. I'm not going to quit making martinis up and stirred, that's for sure, but I won't back away from fixing a dry gin martini on the rocks either, when, as tonight, it's what the moment calls for.
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