Tonight was sticky, humid and almost too hot to cook. So we took off down the streets of South Philly to catch a little breeze, dip our feet in the stream of an opened fire hydrant and enjoy the city sights.
Then we came back and Dennis whipped up a knock-out improvisation of pork chops with lemon butter sauce, broccoli rabe and lemon pepper rice. He pulled it together so quickly, I think I need to learn how to adjust the shutter speed on my camera for action shots, pronto!
Each piece of this dish is actually pretty simple, but they make a fabulous combination together. We started with julienned onions, sweet red peppers and garlic.
Those got tossed into a hot pan with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, and then Dennis had a chance to show off a few of his awesome chef skills.
Meanwhile, he blanched the broccoli rabe and added it to the veggie mixture. It was seasoned with red pepper flakes and finished with a few more minutes on the stove.
He cooked up a small pot of white rice, then mixed in a bit of lemon zest and pepper to give it some real zing.
Meanwhile, two pork chops were getting all good and flavorful in a rub of salt, pepper and paprika.
Those good looking chops only got better when they were tossed into a hot oiled pan and seared brown on both sides. When they were cooked, he deglazed the pan with dry vermouth (white wine would work in a pinch), melted in about 1 tbls of butter and added the juice of half a lemon. Yum!
Everything went together so well, you’d think he spent all week planning the menu! The only thing missing was a good cold beer for a hot night…
Yup, it’s fresh rosemary!
Boneless pork chops about an inch thick, I see. What’s the herb sprinkled on at the end? Doesn’t look like parsley…