After my last post, I’m sure you know that the most important things in my kitchen are John and Charlie. My best friends. I promised photos of my swimmy dog so here he is.
Okay, maybe Charlie is farther down the list than #2. He’s been in the dog house this week. First he got in the garbage. I got it all cleaned up and went back to the hospital to visit John. When I got home he’d done it again. I was WAY less than amused. Two garbage pickups and two dog baths after being stressed and I yelled at him. Poor little thing was heartbroken. The look I got made me feel like I’d cut his heart out while he watched. I figured he was confused because things have been weird around here. He doesn’t stay alone often. If Charlie can go with us, he goes.
When I arrived home from picking John up at the hospital yesterday, no Charlie at the door. Odd. I yelled. No Charlie. I knew he was in the house because I said good-bye when I left and the door was locked. “Chaaaarlieeeee!!!”
He slowly walked in and saw John and walked over to him and looked up and that was it. “Don’t you remember, Daddy?” I said.
When I saw “the look”, I didn’t have to see any other bits to know he was having trouble walking.
“Did you hump Lucy (the cat) AGAIN??”
He looked down. ‘Things’ were all settled down in about 20 minutes and then he was thrilled to have John home.
For Christmas I received these beautiful Swarovski crystal earrings hand made by Celia from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial. Celia’s the one who started the popular In My Kitchen monthly posts where folks like you and me can share what’s going on in our world. I do wear these in my kitchen – and elsewhere.
In my kitchen is something I’ve been wanting for ages. When I was 17 I used a cream whipper at the ice cream shop I worked at and I’ve wanted one ever since. So I ordered one for myself for Christmas. (It’s the best way to ensure you get what you want.)
Add cream, a little icing sugar, some vanilla and put the cover on. Then you screw on one NO2 capsule and shake 3-4 times and it’s whipped cream. The cream stays good (lying on its side in the fridge) for up to 10 days. This gadget can make espuma (foam) too and I know you all hate foam but I might try it anyway. Just because I can.
Also in my kitchen was this really good dinner. I had this idea for a savoury cherry sauce. There are lots of recipes for cherry chutney or sweet cherry sauce but I didn’t find any inspiration for a savoury sauce. I did wonder if that was because it was crap but I had some pork steaks and gave it a try.
I thought I’d get it done while John was in the hospital but there’s no way to cook much when you make 4 trips to the hospital in one day. It was okay because we both loved it. I also made some roasted potatoes with seasoning salt and paprika, some fried corn and some steamed broccoli.
The sauce is made with cherries (pitted obviously), sherry and a bit of balsamic vinegar. There’s also some thyme, rosemary and just a bit of black pepper. At the end I tossed in a (small) pat of butter to make the sauce nice and shiny.
When I lived in Tennessee, I learned to make fried corn. That’s “frahd corn”, thank you very much and it’s SO good. It only takes about 5 minutes to prepare. Put a small bit of butter in a skillet at medium heat and while that’s heating up, cut the kernels and scrape the cobs. When the butter sizzles, put the corn in, stir it around, add salt and pepper and it’s done. It only takes a minute or so of cooking. It’s our last butter, I promise.
- 2 French shallots finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 cups fresh pitted cherries
- ⅔ cup sherry (I used sweet sherry)
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- ¼ teaspoon dried thyme (could use a sprig of fresh and pull out the stem when done)
- ¼ teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 tablespoon butter
- Sauté French shallots in the olive oil in a skillet on medium heat. Cook until the shallots are translucent.
- Add the sherry and deglaze the pan.
- Add the cherries, balsamic vinegar, thyme and rosemary and bring to the boil.
- Reduce heat and cook until the cherries are soft and the sauce has reduced.
- Taste and add salt and pepper.
- Add the butter and once melted, stir into the sauce.
- Serve with pork (or just off the spoon. )
If you’d like to join in the In My Kitchen fun and share YOUR kitchen, just do it. Link to Fig Jam and Lime Cordial and she’ll link to you. Easy Peasy.
See you next month with a new In My Kitchen.