Tomatillo sauce is an easy way to jack up the flavour of roasted chicken breasts. Deglaze the pan with tomatillo salsa and fry it in a bit of chicken fat. Doesn’t sound very good when I put it that way but it is. Trust me. Chicken with tomatillo is a match made in heaven. If you wind up with leftovers, they make great tacos.
Pan fried pork chops. The right chop, a hot pan, a few minutes in the oven and a quick pan gravy put a weeknight staple on the the table in 20 minutes or less.
If you have the tomatillo salsa on hand, roasted pork with tomatillo sauce is a quick and easy meal. The salsa darkens as it cooks in the rendered pork fat. The sauce picks up the flavours of the meat to really come together nicely. I used pork tenderloin because I was jammed for time but you could do it with a small pork loin as well. Just up the amount of tomatillo salsa you use to line up with the amount of meat you are preparing.
Pork piccata is a great alternative to the more obvious chicken piccata. It’s easier to prep. It’s less likely to dry out. And it has more flavour. What is not to love here?
Holiday turkey dinner. Are there words that strike fear in the hearts of cooks more effectively than holiday turkey dinner? Probably not. Turkeys are just not made oven friendly. Add the 17 sides that everyone expects and you have a ridiculous task in front of you. Stop. Think. Why do you need 17 sides? What is the point exactly? Have you ever been to a great restaurant that put 17 sides on the plate? It makes no sense at all. None.
Why not execute 5 things perfectly instead? Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy and one vegetable. Who wouldn’t be happy with that? Quality over quantity. Pick your battles. Pick the ones you can win.
A perfectly cooked turkey is not a difficult thing. Pick a good quality bird, keep it under 14 lbs, don’t stuff it and dry brine it. Dry brined roast turkey deserves a whole lot more attention than it gets. It works. Well.