Since there’s only three of us at home — Sandra (my wife), Salem (our youngest daughter, going on 22 and seldom seen), and myself — we don’t tend to do a lot of cooking, and we almost never have sit-down meals anymore unless we have company coming over. However, every few weeks, I will fire up either the grill or the smoker and cook up a batch of meat to last us a week or so.
I did that last week with three good-sized top sirloin steaks, as well as a dozen 1+”-thick boneless pork chops. For the steaks I used a peppercorn marinade overnight (some name brand that escapes me — had it in the pantry); for the port chops, I used my John Henry’s Beef Brisket marinade overnight, then smeared both sides of each chop with Archer Farms Moroccan Inspired Grilling Paste (from Target) about an hour before grilling. Both sets of meat turned out nicely and not overcooked (thanks to a heavily used digital thermometer w/probe). A few days later, I cooked up some couscous (w/dried cranberries) to go with the pork chops.
Tonight I found myself with four pork chops still left over, as well as 1-2 cups of the couscous. I wanted something warm and hearty, since it’s been gray and rainy (and cooling off) most of the afternoon. I took out two cans of Progresso split pea soup and put them in a pot, along with the leftover couscous. I then trimmed what little fat there was off two of the pork chops, then cut the two chops into small slices (3-4 rows of slices per pork chop) and threw them in the pot. Added some salt, pepper, and ground dried red peppers, as well as another handful of dried cranberries. Heated it up. Verdict: not bad, though my wife came up with the final garnish: a dollop of sour cream in the middle of the bowl. (Sandra believes there are few things that are not improved by putting sour cream on top.) It’s not drop-dead delicious — but it’s hard to stop eating it (I’ve had three servings).
If I’d had pine nuts, I would have thrown them in as well. ..bruce..