Meat and Potatoes: a creative twist!

Welcome to Self-Isolation with Suz. Today, I’m deciding to distract myself with making a fun and time consuming (we’ve all got lots of it) version of that all-American standard: meat and potatoes.

In the freezer, my mother had some pork chops that needed consuming. So I thawed those out and decided what better way to dress this up than do a seasoned butter rub? We’ve got lots of butter and it’s a sure-fire way to result in tender meat.

And then the potatoes… how about some gnocchi? I’m missing Italy, especially with everything they’re going through. Not to say making gnocchi makes everything better, but I’d never done it and the detailed task is something I knew would make me get lost in my own little world of cooking. So why not? Oh and of course, we’re going to make a brown butter sauce for those. And be sure to add a fresh veggie in there, if you can.

Pork chops

10 thin sliced pork chops

1-1 1/2 sticks of softened butter

Herbs and spices of your choice (I did oregano, basil, garlic, onion powder, salt, pepper, and cilantro)

Heat a skillet to medium high heat. Prep the pork chops by patting dry and salting. Then, coat in your herbed butter and sear for 2-3 minutes per side. Ours were quite thin so they cooked quickly.

Gnocchi

4-6 medium russet potatoes (2lbs)

1 1/2 c. Flour

1 tsp. Salt

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Peel and boil your potatoes until tender when stuck with a fork. Drain and mash until you without lumps (you can also use a ricer, but I don’t own one).

In a separate bowl, mix flour and salt together. Add egg to potatoes and then fold in the flour mixture. This works best if done with your hands.

Flour a surface and dump out your gnocchi dough. Knead all the flour in (1-2 minutes) until it’s incorporated and the dough is somewhat sticky. Cover with a cloth to keep moist. Grab a lemon sized piece of dough and roll out like a snake until 3/4 inch in diameter. Chop into 1 inch long little pillows!

You can cook immediately after that or you can freeze a single layer until solid and then bag up and use at a later time.