I'm Still Alive

Were you thinking that I was in the ER with food poisoning and couldn't write? Nope! last night's dinner turned out GREAT! Well, it was pretty good. I think if I make this recipe again I will do even better, having learned a few tricks along the way. And Yes, I will try this again. It was really quite tasty. The pork was a little over done, (I just can't get past that trichinosis thing), but the flavors were wonderful. Ger thought it tasted too much of Olives but I think that was the capers that I only added when I was cooking because I didn't have them ahead of time. The sauce/marinade was a combination of Olive oil, red wine vinegar, prunes, olives, capers (if you buy them), basil, thyme and garlic. All smothering the meat for 24 hours ahead of cooking. Then it was brown the meat, add some dry white wine to make a wonderful sauce and roast the whole thing for about 20 minutes. The recipe suggested serving this over POLENTA. I have never heard of polenta and I am sorry to say I wish I never had found it in the store. It is like Cream of Wheat or Grits and it is WONDERFUL !! Oh Good ! Something else to add to my diet that I can pig out on. The recipe suggested mixing the polenta with some butter and Parmesan cheese. All I can say is OMG !
But it wasn't all fun and games and taste overload. There were a few low points to this culinary adventure. First I tried to brown the meat in my corning wear roasting pan. NOT ! You know the pan, the one that says "Do not use on stove top"! OOPS ! So after that cracked in half (thank goodness the roast was not in it yet, just olive oil . . . all over the HOT stove . . .), I figured I'd use my wonderful big metal roasting pan. Browned the meat, added the marinade and put it in the oven. Took it out of the oven, put it on the stove and then took off the oven mitts. Proceeded to turn around and grab the handle of the pan to move it over. BURN !! So there was a slight 1/2 hour delay to soak my hand in ice water and snap some aloe off the plants in the back yard. (Fingers are fine today . . . Aloe is amazing) But the ULTIMATE insult to this whole adventure in the kitchen was when I was cleaning up and got a SPLINTER from the wooden spoon ! That is just too much. I think I'll wait a while before I try any more gourmet dinners. At least, the ones I try to make at home. Calling for reservations is much much simpler.