I tried another new recipe last week and I must admit, it was not a huge success. Pork is super hard to cook apparently and I'm wondering if my meat thermometer might not be working well. This recipe sounded pretty simple and I liked that it was a meal for two because sometimes you don't need leftovers. It was also a Kraft recipe, which usually means its pretty simple, but it was not my best cooking experience yet. The recipe I tried was Caesar Pork and Pasta. I started by cooking the pasta, which turned out just fine. My first mistake might have been using my cast iron skillet. I may have had better luck with my nonstick pan. I heated up my pan, while I prepared my pork chops by putting Caesar dressing and parmesan cheese on two bone in pork chops. Once my pan was heated, I added the pork chops, cheese side down. I cooked the pork chops for 5 minutes on each side, but according to my thermometer, they weren't done. I continued flipping the pork chops for several minutes trying to achieve the desired temperature without much luck. Meanwhile, I was making a huge mess of my pan. I could tell that the pork chops were done, even though the thermometer didn't agree, so I moved on to the next step. I added my spinach and garlic to the pot with the pasta and cooked until the spinach was wilted. Then, I added in some Caesar dressing, parmesan cheese, and cherry tomato halves, cooking until everything was heated. I served up the pork chops and pasta and dinner was served. The flavors of the pasta were delightful and I could see how the pork chops would have been tasty, had they not been so over cooked. Clearly, I need more practice working with pork, or I should stick to the crock pot or sous vide with a trusty pork tenderloin in the future. All attempts can't be perfect or things would get boring, so we will chalk this one up to keeping things interesting. Not a bad idea, just a bad execution of said idea.

The New Austonian