Spaghetti with Cabbage, Heirloom Tomatoes & Prosciutto

Cathy Erway's book, The Art of Eating In, is slowly but surely changing my life. If you, like me, are guilty of eating out on a regular basis you MUST get your hands on a copy of her book. Trust me on this. In the meantime, you can check out her blog, Not Eating Out In New York, which is full of simple, tasty recipes and lots of useful information. I was on dinner duty the other night and decided to give one of her pasta recipes a go. It caught my eye because it looked so "summery" and we've been having some crazy hot weather here in Vancouver this week. A summery dish seemed like a good fit.

I made this recipe using smoked ham prosciutto (I picked up a package at Safeway for $4) and heirloom tomatoes. We didn't have any garlic cloves in the house so I used some of Alan's minced garlic that comes in a little jar he gets from a nearby Asian grocery store. This was my first time cooking with prosciutto, and the smells emanating from the pan were scrumptious. It was also my first time cooking with cabbage, and I think I could have cooked it a little longer (it was still a wee bit hard and crunchy) but all in all a deliciously light summery dish.

I'm too lazy to post the recipe on this blog, but you can find it over on Cathy's blog here. I will, however, share these photos ...

Ingredients include prosciutto (or bacon), tomatoes and cabbage

The yummy final product 

... and the lovely outdoor terrace we've made on our apartment balcony. Unfortunately, we didn't get to eat out here tonight because there were three bees swarming about that just wouldn't go away no matter how hard we tried. Boo to the bees. 

I think my favorite thing about this recipe, aside from the yummy smells I got to enjoy while cooking it, is that it doesn't require any sauce. I love pasta but sometimes I find traditional, hearty tomato sauce a bit heavy. Here, the ingredients cook together and the flavors just blend nicely into one another. Delicious!

Pork Chops with Apple Tart Dressing

Confession: I didn't cook this. Buuuutttt my husband did and goodness gracious was it delicious.

I hadn't eaten pork chops in YEARS. Alan's a big fan of chops and he'd been trying to get me to eat them ever since we started dating, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. Growing up, my family didn't eat pork chops very often and the recipe my mom made wasn't my favorite (no offense, Mom! Love ya!). When Alan and I made a commitment to try and eat at home more I knew I was going to have to move beyond chicken, beef and salmon so I added pork chops to our grocery list. Tonight, Alan put those chops to good use.

He used a recipe in his Keeping it Simple cookbook by Gary Rhodes. Check out this deliciousness ...

I'm so blessed to have a hubby that enjoys cooking! Love him to bits. But onto the food ... 

He served the pork chops with sauteed mushrooms and asparagus, and fresh red tomatoes sprinkled with pepper. Here's the recipe:

Pork Chops with Apple Tart Dressing

Ingredients
- Apples (the recipe calls for 7 to 8, but he only used 2)
- 1oz of brown sugar
- Lemon juice from half of a lemon
- Pork chops (recipe calls for 4, he used 2)
- 1oz of butter, melted
- Salt and pepper
- Apple sauce (this actually isn't in the recipe, but he added about 2 tablespoons of it)

Directions
- Peel and roughly chop the apples and put them into a saucepan.
- Add half the brown sugar, the lemon juice and 3 tablespoons of water. Cover with a lid and cook over medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes until tender, stirring from time to time.
- Brush the pork chops with a little bit of butter and season with salt and pepper. Put the chops on a grill pan and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side.
- Spread the apple sauce over the chops and arrange the apple slices on top slightly overlapping as you would for an apple tart. Brush or drizzle the chops with melted butter, sprinkle over the remaining sugar and return to the grill.
- Cook for a few more minutes until the apples are nicely toasted with a slightly burnt tinge around the edges.