“Betty, this is my mom. Mom, this is Betty Crocker.”
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
I don’t know what inspires you when you think about what to prepare for dinner. For me, most of the time I stand in front of the freezer and hope for something to leap into my hands. That’s kind of what happened today.
I spotted a package of frozen ham-and-bacon-sausage patties from my pigmeat guy. They’ve been in the freezer since last August and I was ready to move ‘em on out!
One of the first things I learned to prepare forty-plus years ago as a new bride was Party Bake Pork Chops, direct from my Betty Crocker’s New Dinner for Two cookery book, the 1964 edition. I learned to cook lots of stuff from that book as its condition testifies. The back cover has separated entirely from the front cover and there are spills and splotches galore within. I’m tempted to see if I can’t find another online somewhere.
Here’s the recipe from Betty:
Party Bake Pork Chops
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Recipe By: Betty Crock's Cooking For Two (from 1966)
Serving Size: 4
Ingredients:
4 lean pork chops, trimmed (1” thick)
4 slices thin onion
1/4 cup raw rice, not instant
28 ounces canned whole tomatoes
salt and pepper
Season chops well on both sides with salt and pepper. Brown on both sides in lightly greased hot skillet. top each chop with a slice of onion, 1 tablespoon rice, and cover with whole tomatoes. Add any remaining tomatoes and juice to skillet. Season with salt. Cover tightly; simmer over low heat or bake in foil-covered baking dish in 350 deg oven for 1-1/2 hours, or until tender.
I decided to make the recipe with my ham-and-bacon-sausage patties instead of pork chops. I browned the patties briefly in my cast iron skillet and arranged them to almost fit in an ancient small rectangular baking pan that was Mom’s. 
Then I threw some chopped celery into the skillet with about 1/4 of an onion, chopped, and some dehydrated red and green bell peppers, to approximate stewed tomatoes. I chucked in about 2 tablespoons of butter, too — it was looking kind of dry. I opened a can of Hunt’s diced tomatoes and put my stick blender into it to break up the tomatoes. He Who Shall Remain Nameless eschews tomato pieces but will happily eat dishes that involve the flavor. I don’t think he’s especially fond of this rice thang, but it probably beats cooking for himself, nu? I put about 1-1/2 tablespoons of long grain white rice on top of each meat patty.
Stay tuned.
This isn’t a very good picture. You can’t see the meat patty under the rice and tomato stuff. It was pretty good but I think the meat had a strange taste to it — not spoiled, but maybe too long in the freezer or something. Oh, well. I know that corn is not the best vegetable to accompany this – the rice provides starch – but I was eager to try it; it was something I picked up at Trader Joe’s this morning. We had a mixed green (baby spinach, romaine, iceberg lettuces) salad with it.
Rob liked it a lot. Go figure.
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