c+potion

Roquefort stuffed pork chops + potato and onion casserole + chopped salad

What a terribly yellow-y blurry photo! I assure you the meal tasted better than this sorry photo indicates. I have two recipes to share. The first is for the roquefort pork chops. I've made this a few times now and it's become a family favorite. It's a bit of work to slit the chops and stuff them but every thing else is super quick and easy. I prepped everything during leftie's nap and then just cooked everything up to have it in time for supper.

My few changes would be to use panko breadcrumbs as one of the reviewers suggest. I use only one TBSP of butter when sauteeing the mushrooms and onions and just add it to the breadcrumbs. Makes it a little less rich and faster since you're skipping the step of cutting up the bread and toasting it. This time around I also sauteed some figs in the pan drippings. Yum. I think figs+pork are a combo made in heaven. Pork really works well with cooked fruit in my opinion. The fruit gets all caramel-y and the pork responds so well to that sweetness.

The second recipe is for the potatoes. More my notes than a recipe. It's one that I grew up eating as a kid. It's kind of time consuming to make so I'm surprised that my mom made it as often as she did. She didn't have a food processor so she did all the prep work by hand. I think it's a southern dish mom picked up during our stint in Louisiana. I made a few changes which I think still honors the flavors without giving in to the can of cream of mushroom soup that gives the dish it's creamy flavor.


Potato + Onion Casserole

6 medium sized russet potatoes peeled and sliced 1/8"
1 and a half medium onion sliced very thinly into rings and then separated into individual rings
1 cup of beschamel or white sauce (I made mine with butter, flour, lowfat milk and a little onion powder)
a few sprigs of fresh thyme leave pulled off of the spines (optional - we have a lot of thyme in our garden this year)
french fried onions to garnish (optional - mom used Durkee's, I've found a version at Trader Joe's (?) I think and often I've gone without)
salt + pepper
finely grated hard cheese like parmesan or gruyere (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.
Butter a 9x13 baking dish. Add a layer of onions to the dish and then top with a layer of potatoes. The onions should lace the bottom of the dish and the potatoes should lay on top without overlapping each other. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper.

Repeat with the rest of the onions and potatoes sprinkling each potato layer with salt and pepper until all the ingredients are used up. End with a layer of potatoes. Add the thyme and pour the white sauce evenly over the casserole, it should seep through the layers. Sprinkle lightly with parmesan cheese or french fried onions (I've never tried both, but if you do, you should let me know how that turns out).

Bake covered (aluminum foil works just fine) in the oven for 45 minutes - 1 hour or until bubbling and the potatoes are fork tender. Finish by taking off the cover and letting the top brown lightly. Serve hot.