Saturday Dinner

     Saturday dinner was pure guesswork, driven in part by our grocery store having only one pork roast, and it small and tattered.

     I bought three thick pork chops instead, along with an apple, potatoes, onion, carrots, celery, parsnips and mushrooms.

     Ahead of cooking, I marinated the chops for a few minutes in a mixture of balsamic vinegar and soy sauce, with ginger, garlic, smoked paprika, fresh-ground mixed pepper, some left over chimichurri herbs and dashed of celery salt and curry powder.  I browned the chops on both sides in a little extra-virgin olive oil and poured the remaining marinade over them, hoping for the best.  Once it was simmering, I peeled and cut up the apple, added it and put the lid on.

     Potatoes, carrots, celery and onion followed slowly, and I let it for about an hour, having forgotten the parsnips.

     I remembered when I went to prepare the mushrooms, so I hurried to peel three big parsnips, slice them thinly, and add them with a little hot water.  Then the mushrooms with a little more hot water, and I left it for over an hour.  It was smelling pretty good.

     When I went fish out the pork chops, the bones came out.  They were just about spoon-tender and juicy.  The sauce was dark and rich, the potato had soaked some of it up, and the whole thing was just right, carrots and parsnips about equally soft.

     The marinade had me worried.  It could have been too strong -- but it wasn't.  It was balanced between the apple, the balsamic vinegar and the soy, none of them predominant.