Another Friday Night, Another Dinner

Isn't it amazing how quickly those Friday night dinners roll around?

Once a week, it seems.

Well, for this Friday night, I had a new idea for dinner.

Why don't you come along and see what we had this time?

Yet once again, the Internet comes to the rescue as I found a recipe for Pork Medallions with Balsamic Honey Glaze.

Here I have

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar (remember, since we are cooking this, it can be a lesser quality)

3 tablespoons honey

2 large cloves garlic, grated

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

salt

ground black pepper

It's all mixed together now.

Since there would just be two of us for dinner, I bought two thick-cut America's Cut Pork Chops (tm) at the butcher's counter of my local grocery store.

The recipe directions say to sear each side for 1 to 2 minutes on the stove.

Okay, that is done. Now, don't mind me, but I highly doubt that a mere 8 to 10 minutes more in a 350 oven will result in our chops reaching our desired 140 degrees.

And in fact, my handy dandy thermometer confirmed this fact, as it took amost three times as long to reach the target temperature.

Reading through the reviews for the recipe, I decided that the glaze should be reduced a bit more.

So I added the glaze to the hot pan and allowed it to reduce by about 1/3 before adding it to the meat that would be going into the oven.

Looking better.

Now, I'm thinking that I would have cooked these just a bit more on the stove the next time.

But I kinda, sorta followed the recipe this time.

While the meat finished in the oven, I turned my attention to the sides.

In honor of my daughter, I started off with bacon.

Then I added the previously blanched green beans from our garden and the store.

I let the green beans cook till until almost done before removing them to the oven.

Looking good, right?

Then I moved on to the piece de resistance of the evening.

Sauteed Brussels sprouts.

After much trial and error and much determination on my part, I have decided that I like my my Brussels sprouts separated and sauteed with bacon.

The Brussels sprouts leaves are caramelized and oh so very tasty.

Now tell me that this doesn't look good.

The pork chops have reached the optimum temperature of 140 degrees.

The sides are ready.

In the end we decided to split our pork chops in half and save the rest for later.

The veggies we ate right away.

The husband even declared that he liked the Brussels sprouts.

You know what?

The dear husband moved just that much closer to being able to be called the Foodie Husband.

It's a process, dear.

You have to earn it.