See Kelsey Cook: August 2011

These Pita Pocket Crusted Pork Cutlets came to be because of Nigella Lawson. She is the lady that turned me on to using ground pitas to coat my pork, rather than bread crumbs or panko. I hope I can be that same kind of lady for you.

Ingredients:

3/4lb thin pork cutlets

2 pita breads

2 eggs

1/4teas dried oregano

1Tbl (squirt) mustard

S&P

Vegetable Oil

Directions:

Grind pita bread in a food processor. Dump into a shallow dish.

Whisk eggs, oregano, and mustard into a (separate) shallow dish.

Season pork cutlets with S&P

Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium high heat

Dip the pork cutlets into the egg wash. Coat in ground pita bread.

Fry 2 minutes per side.

*Buying either thin or thick pork cutlets is up to you. If you're using thick, the added bonus of getting to pound each piece of pork out with a meat mallet will in turn, help rid you of your day's stress. If you're using thin, you save yourself some work.

I use a food processor to make crumbs out of my pita bread

Let er rip!

Dish #1

Dish #2

Make an assembly station. Salt & pepper the pork.

Heat vegetable oil in a shallow pan over medium high heat

As the oil heats, prepare the pork cutlets. Dip one side in egg wash. Dip the other side in egg wash. Coat in pita bread.

Repeat.

Repeat again. Then fry.

Flip after 2 minutes

Meanwhile, coat and bread the rest.

Remove the first batch of fried pork cutlets once done.

Wait a minute for the oil to reheat. Then add the 2nd batch into the pan.

Same as before, flip after 2 minutes.

Once all cutlets have been fried, eat 2 now w/some bean soup.

Store the rest in the fridge for later.

Topping suggestions: Mustard, Coleslaw, Applesauce

Was it good for you? It was good for me.

Oh yah, here's a tip. For safe storage, wait for the oil to cool. THEN pour into a container for proper disposal. Otherwise you run the risk of doing what I did...

...yah, DON'T pour hot oil into a glass jar for safe storage & then immediately run water over the jar to help wipe away some of the oil that spilled onto the jar's sides. The jar will explode.

Bonus Bean Soup Recipe:

Ingredients:

4C chicken broth/stock

1 strip of bacon

1 can of cannellini beans

1 small onion

1 carrot

3 Tbl flour

1/4teas dried sage

S&P

Snip bacon in a soup pot over medium heat. Wash hands.

Mince carrot. Dice onion. Add to the soup pot w/bacon. Season w/sage, salt, and pepper. Stir.

Rinse & drain beans. Add 1/3 of the beans, flour, and 1cup chicken stock/broth in a blender. Blend.

Add the remaining 2/3 beans and 3cups chicken broth/stock to the soup pot. Bring to a boil.

Add the blended ingredients to the soup bot. Bring back to a boil.

Don't forget to take your Beano!

The jig is up. I'm not the best baker. I could quite possibly be one of the worst in the world. Okay, the situation is not that extreme. But the fact of the matter is that not only do I hate baking, I'm just no good at it. When it comes to making homemade pizza though, I'm in a bit of a state of denial.

Case and point. It's Monday evening, and I've had pizza on the brain all day. It has been at least 6 months since the last time I've attempted making homemade pizza dough.

Six months is enough time.

Enough time for me to forget that my pizza crust never turns out quite right. Enough time for me to forget that it takes over 3 hours to proof, knead, rise, and roll out the dough. Enough time for me to be able to lie to myself and think, "... I can do this." And did I mention that I end up investing more money in the cost of cheese alone than it would for me to buy take-out from Papa Murphy's? Of course not. It's been 6 months. All has been forgiven and forgotten in the world of Kelsey's homemade pizza dough.

Insult to injury, I had full intentions of blogging the whole shabang. I snapped photos, took my time, and tried to come up with a pizza other than the standard tomato sauce & mozzarella combo.

I don't condone anyone using my pizza dough recipe. To be honest, I discourage it. Strongly. But, just so my pizza making attempt isn't a complete loss, (or if anything, a physical reminder to swallow my pride & dial Papa Murphy's the next time I'm feeling pizza) I'm going to blog about it.

Dough Ingredients:
.25gram package of yeast
1 C warm water
2 1/2C flour
2 1/2 teas sugar
1 teas salt
3Tbl EVOO

Proof the yeast, sugar, and water. Combine the flour and salt. Pour the proofed mixture and the EVOO into the flour mixture. Knead w/a dough hook for 10min. Oil the dough & cover. Let rise for an hour.

Alfredo Sauce Ingredients:

2Tbl butter

2Tbl flour

2C whole milk

1/4C parmesean

1/2teas garlic powder

1/8teas ground nutmeg

S&P

Melt the butter and stir in flour. Whisk in milk. Season with garlic powder, nutmeg, and S&P. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Stir in parmesean.

Spinach Artichoke Topping Ingredients:

1 teas EVOO

1/4 large onion sliced

2 canned artichokes sliced

handful of frozen spinach

S&P

Sautee onion in oil. Season w/ S&P. Add spinach until heated through. Add artichokes.

After an hour and once the dough has risen, cut in half. Roll the first half out onto a floured surface. Oil a pizza pan. Use your rolling pin to aid in transferring the dough to the pizza pan.

Cheese first. Sauce second. Toppings third.

Bake @ 350 for 17 minutes on the bottom rack. Broil for 3 minutes. The crust on bottom had nice color. The crust on top... not so much.

(in desperate attempts to salvage what was left of the dough, I made a cross between a homemade Hot Pocket and a calzone... sort of)

Take the second half of dough and cut in two. Roll each out. Oil a cookie sheet. Top one side of each rolled out dough with cheese, lunch meat, and/or sandwich toppings. Fold and seal. Cut a slit in the center of the creation. Brush with egg wash. Sprinkle with S&P. Bake @ 350 on the middle rack for 25 minutes.