Sunday Dinner

Several weeks ago, I posted about the new tradition Bryan and I are trying to start -- making something for Sunday dinner every week that we've never made before. As we were making this week's masterpiece, I was thinking that I wanted to chronicle our adventures, so I thought this would be the perfect place. I'll share the recipes we used, how it worked for us, anything we changed, etc. In the future, I'll try to take pictures of our feasts as well so you can enjoy them vicariously.

Tonight we made oven-fried pork chops with parmesan potato wedges. According to Bryan, the pork chops are the best thing I've ever cooked. In reflecting on that comment, and on all the meals I have cooked in our two years of marriage, I am alternately flattered (because he liked it so much) and offended (because there are meals on which I have worked a lot harder). But I digress.

Both recipes came from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. They were really easy and really good.

Oven-Fried Pork Chops

4 pork loin chops

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons milk

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup stuffing mix, finely crushed (we used the kind that's for pork)

Coat a 13x9 baking pan with the melted butter. In a shallow dish, combine egg, milk, and pepper. Place stuffing mix in a second shallow dish. Dip chops into egg mixture. Coat both sides with stuffing mix. Place in prepared pan. Bake, uncovered, at 425 F for 10 minutes. Turn chops. Bake 10-15 minutes more or until juices run clear.

Since there are just the two of us, we scaled this down to just make two chops. It was pretty easy to do. I didn't scaled down the butter, but in the future, I will pay more attention to that so the chops don't soak up so much butter -- I think they'd be better a little more crispy. But they really did cook quickly. About 10 minutes on one side, 15 on the other, and they were cooked through.

Parmesan Potato Wedges

6 medium baking potatoes (about 2 pounds)

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning, crushed

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Line a cookie sheet with foil. Cut each potato lengthwise into eight wedges. In a large bowl, stir together butter, garlic, parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, salt, and black pepper. Coat potato wedges thoroughly, then place on the prepared cookie sheet. Bake uncovered at 425 F for about 30 minutes or until tender.

We cut this recipe in half as well, but we added a little extra parmesan. However, the three Idaho russets I bought were much too big. The sauce only covered about one and a half potatoes. Just something to keep in mind, all you folks out there in Idaho. Next time I think I'll add a touch more garlic as well.

Stay tuned for next week's installment.