March 31 – April 6, 2025

Monday:                               Filet Mignon with Sauce Perigourdine, Salad, Roasted beets with Fresh Horseradish, Apple Tart

Wednesday:                        Chicken Tortellini Soup

Thursday:                             PFC with Billy and Beez

 

 

 

Friday:                                   Crispy Baked Fish with Tartar Sauce, Mushrooms and Peas

Saturday:                              Santa Margherita Pizza

Sunday:                                 Pan-Roasted Pork Chops with Onion Gravy,                                               Roasted Fennel, Salad

Monday’s dinner was spectacular, but you know how to cook filet and make an apple tart.  I could teach you a thing or two about beets and fresh horseradish, but I’m not sure that many of you really want to know.  So let’s talk . . .

Diner Food

I was going to title this post, Diner Food Elevated.  But that would have implied that diner food is somehow depressed or depressing.  And that would have been wrong.  There is, of course, mediocre diner food, largely as a result of most diners having a menu list as long as the Federal Register.  But there is also fantastic diner food, as anyone who watches ‘Diners, Drive-ins and Dives,’ hosted by the energetic Guy Fieri, knows.  [Why Fieri pronounces his name “Fietti” is a mystery – let me know, if you’ve figured it out.]

Traveling salesmen – like me – also know about the solace and camaraderie of diners.  I once had a transcendent plate of liver and onions at a diner on Roosevelt Boulevard in Philadelphia.

The dish we’re sharing this week was cooked last Sunday – a soul-chilling, blustery  day of rain in Pittsburgh.  I had planned to grill the pork chops but the weather would not cooperate and so I turned to a very diner-adjacent recipe from Michael Symon that knocked the socks of my little band of diners.  I knew that the pan-seared chops would sell, but the onion gravy was a revelation, as was (for my diners, but not for me) the sweet savory roasted fennel I served alongside the main course. 

There was, alas, the issue of peeling cippolini onions.  I had tried this once or twice before and almost decided against this recipe because of the time-consuming tedium of removing cippolini from their skin.  But a quick video on the internet showed me how to accomplish the task in no time, so the gravy was back on.

I’ve added the recipe for the fennel I served immediately below the chops and gravy recipe because I want more people knew what a craveable vegetable fennel can be with its sweetness enhanced by sambuca and roasting and its savoriness by fennel seeds and an olive oil and salt coating before roasting.  And I’ll admit to a fondness for having on the kitchen counter one or two large bulbs of fennel with the stalks still attached looking like the drones on a bagpipe (look it up).   Along with celery root, it’s one of nature’s scarier vegetables.

 

 

 

PAN-ROASTED PORK CHOPS AND ONION GRAVY

(adapted from Michael Symon, Symon’s Simple Suppers)

Timing:                                       About 50 minutes

Ingredients:                                     Serves 4

4 thin-sliced boneless pork chops – about 1/4 -inch thick

(Note, our chops were a bit thicker, and you can use even thicker chops – just extend the cooking time.  I wouldn’t try anything over 1/2-inch thick)

1 cup peeled cipollini onions

¼ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

Small bunch of thyme, Small bay leaf, 2 cups whole milk

½ cup plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon sweet paprika, 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons butter, ½ teaspoon nutmeg

Prep:              Get the chops out of the fridge 4 minutes before cooking.

About those onions – bring a pot of water to boil and prepare an ice bath.  Meanwhile cut the stem and the root from the onions.  Boil the onions for 2 minutes then plunge them into the ice bath to stop the cooking.  When cool enough, dry and press your thumbs on the stem end and a peeled cipollini will pop out the root end.  (Look at the internet video, if that’s not clear.)

In a shallow bowl, blend the ½ cup of flour with the paprika.

Bundle up the thyme and bay leaf with butcher’s twine.

Assemble the other ingredients.

Pat the chops dry and season on both sides with salt and pepper, then dredge one of the chops in the flour being sure to coat both sides well.   Shake off the excess.  Dust the other chops in turn.

Set a large skillet over medium-high or a bit lower.

Cook:

Add the olive oil to the skillet and heat to shimmering, then add the chops.  Cook without moving until golden-brown, maybe 5 minutes, then flip, reduce heat to medium and brown the second side – another 5 minutes or so.  Transfer the chops to a plate and tent with foil.

Drain oil from skillet and wipe it clean.  Return to medium heat.

Add butter and heat until melted, then add the onions.  Season with salt and pepper and cook until golden brown – maybe 3 or 4 minutes a side.

Add the 3 tablespoons of flour and cook, stirring, for one minute.  Now, whisking constantly, add the milk slowly.  When the milk is incorporated, bring to a boil, then reduce to medium-low and maintain a gentle simmer.  Add the herb bundle and nutmeg, season well with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.  Remove the herb bundle and stir in the parsley.

Serve:

Top the chops with onion gravy.

Note:  Symon serves this with fennel and spring onion salad, but Beez is not a fan of raw fennel, so I serve with . . .

Roasted Fennel

This is a fairly large adaptation of Joe Beddia’s roasted fennel from his book, Pizza Camp.

Ingredients:  2 bulbs of fennel, 1 tablespoon of fennel seeds, 2 shots of Sambuca Romana liqueur, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper.

Prep:

Heat oven to 425 F.

Cover a sheet pan with aluminum foil.

Grind fennel seeds in a pestle and mortar.

Cut the stalks from the fennel and then slice the fennel into ¼’ sections.  (I usually cut the bulb in half, then sort of notch out the tough part of the root and slice at that point).  You can cut the stalks into sections as well.  Preserve the fronds for garnish.

In a large bowl, toss the sliced fennel with the ground fennel seeds, the olive oil and Sambuca and a generous amount of salt and pepper.

Spread the fennel on the prepared sheet pan.

Cook:

Put the pan in the oven and roast for about 20 minutes, maybe a bit longer.  You want some color of some of the fennel, but don’t want to char it.

Transfer to a serving bowl.

Note:  This roasted fennel is also great paired with sausage on pizza