A Wonderful Oceanfront Anniversary Dinner at McLoone's Pier House, Long Branch, NJ

Christine and I finally got the chance to get away for the evening to celebrate our anniversary. Our anniversary is on July 11th, but we have been so busy that we couldn't find the time to spent a nice evening together until this week. We have been married twenty-seven years. I have a wonderful wife and the years have been very rich. We went to McLoone's Pier House in Long Branch. McCloone's is part of a family of restaurants that began with McLoone's Rum Runner and has continued to grow with McLoone's at Favorites (the OTB parlor in Fords, NJ), and the newly established McLoone's Saltwater Beach Cafe and Tim McLoone's Supper Club in what used to be the Howard Johnson's on the Boardwalk in Asbury Park.

McLoone's is known for putting a contemporary spin on fresh local ingredients with a focus on seafood. The Pier House is located in Pier Village, which is a beautifully redeveloped section of the boardwalk in Long Branch. The style of the Pier House is what I would call casual chic. There are two sections of the restaurant: the deck which caters to beach goers and the indoor restaurant which serves fancier lunches and dinners. One of the best things about the Pier House is its oceanfront location and the dining room, which while in itself is beautiful, is brought to an even higher level by the sweeping ocean views. (The beach picture was taken from our window). The Pier House is one of a handful of restaurants at the Jersey Shore that offers the ambiance of ocean views.
The menu at McCloone's is a creative version of a Jersey Shore seafood and land lubber's menu. While we were waiting for our meal to be served we munched on Italian bread served with a butter, garlic, and herb composition. Being the traditionalists that we are we started our meal with a bucket of steamers. We were served a heaping bucket of steamed soft shell clams, more than enough for two. Along with the bucket we received the expected bowl of clam broth for washing any sand off the clams and a dish of drawn butter. The clams, mostly on the medium to large size, were sweet and cooked perfectly. When steamers are on the menu, it is the dish I use to judge the quality of a seafood restaurant and so far McCloone's was batting 1000.

My wife ordered the Lobster and Shrimp Bisque as her starter. (We shared it). The menu at McLoone's says this is one of their signature dishes and I can see why. The presentation set this dish apart from an ordinary soup. The server brought a dish which is empty except for a pile of diced morsels of shrimp. Then a rich amalgamation of lobster and cream is poured over the shrimp. This dish, with some bread and a salad, would make a substantial and delicious lunch. The menu has some other interesting starters such as lobster wellington, drunken clams, and a spinach and artichoke dip which we observed several tables enjoying. There is a also a raw bar with oysters and cherrystone clams which I hope to enjoy on a future visit.

For her entree Christine ordered Jumbo Sea Scallops. She received four large scallops that were perfectly caramelized and cooked just to the done side of sushi. The scallops were beautifully presented on a plate with julienne vegetables and a pacific seaweed salad. The seaweed salad was quite interesting. It had an unusual but not unpleasant texture. It tasted of the ocean but was not fishy and it was dressed in a toasted sesame dressing which gave it a distinctively Asian flavor.

For my entree I ordered the Lobster Rappa. The dish contained generous chunks of lobster and fresh mozzarella with spinach and a sauce served over linguine then finished with Parmesan cheese. The sauce was made of olive oil, diced tomatoes, onions and garlic. I thoroughly enjoyed this dish, although it could have used a bit more salt and pepper. In addition to these entrees others that seemed interesting were the fisherman's dinner of scallops, shrimp and softshell crab fried in a graham cracker crumb crust. I was also very tempted to order the cowboy steak which was a 14 oz. rib eye steak grilled on the bone.


For desert Christine and I shared one of our favorites, a flourless chocolate cake. The Pier House's version was a rich, dark chocolate cake with a hint of raspberry. It reminded me of a rich, buttery truffle. Our meal at the Pier House was excellent. The only moderately disappointing part of the entire experience was the service. The service staff were mostly college age students. They were warm and friendly but seemed somewhat amateurish and less informed than I expected for a restaurant of the Pier House's caliber. That being said, if you are looking for an excellent ocean front meal at the Jersey Shore, I would not hesitate to recommend McCloone's Pier House.

Enjoy!

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Jimmy Buffs: One of New Jersey's Premier Grease Cuisine Spots

This past week we were taking care of my mother-in-law at our house. We took her back to West Orange on Saturday and from West Orange I headed over to Flushing Meadow in Queens to officiate at a wedding. (What a crazy day). When I got back, to West Orange, to my delight, I found a sandwich from one of my favorite New Jersey "grease cusine" places--a double Italian Hot Dog Sandwich from Jimmy Buffs. One of the cool things about living in New Jersey for a foodie is that because of the density and ethnic diversity of our population you will find food specialties that are known no where else except in that little area where the food originated. As people spread out from those areas, the special food spreads with them. Take for instance the hot dog. I already blogged about the Texas Weiner. This a particularly Passaic, County way of eating hotdogs. The Italian Hotdog, as exemplified by Jimmy Buff's is pretty much an Essex County way eating hotdogs. The first Italian Hot Dog was made in Newark and has spead to where ever folk from Newark and Essex County have settled through out New Jersey. Although you can get an Italian Hotdog in lots of pizza places in Jersey, they are all pale imitiatons of the authentic Jimmy Buffs dog.

What is so special about a Jimmy Buffs Italian Hotodog? There are two ingredients that are responsible for its uniqueness. The first if the bread, and the second is the grease. (Please be advised that when I use the word grease, I use it not in a pejorative way, but with intense appreciation and fondness for the flavors that can only be transmitted by high quality fat that has been seasoned by many uses.) When you go to Jimmy Buffs in West Orange, you enter this little stand with a tiny counter. The cook, (sometimes Jimmy, the boss, and son of the original Jimmy Buff or one of his sons), will take your order. If you order a double he will cut a loaf of Pizza bread in half. (Pizza bread is a round, flat, fat Italin Bread. Jimmy says it's short for "fat pita"). I don't know where Jimmy Buffs gets their bread, but it is very high quality. I am sure that it comes from one of the great Italian bakeries that had it's origins in the North Ward of Newark. Then the cook takes two hot dogs, (the kind with the skin on 'em so they split when they cook and snap when you bite into them) and deep fries them. Just a word about that grease. There is legend that the grease that is used is the same grease that Jimmy's father fried his first hot dogs in. As the grease evaporated, more was added. The legend goes that as Jimmy expanded, he took a portion of that grease to the new Jimmy Buffs store as a starter. I am sure this is just a legend, but it grows out the knowledge folks have that one of the secrets of Jimmy Buffs is how all the flavors blend together from cooking the hotdogs, pepper, onions, potatoes, sausage, etc. in that one big flat flyer.

While the dogs are frying the cook takes a portion of fresh cut potatoes, sliced onions and peppers and fries them in that same oil. Then he will put your condiments on the bread. I take mustard and ketchup on my Jimmy Buffs. Finally the dogs and vegetables are stuffed into the bread and it is wrapped up and packed to go. By the way, my 87 year old mother-in-law has been eating these things all her life and enjoyed one with us on Saturday. Maybe it is the secret to long life. What a great way to eat a hot dog!

Enjoy!

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Delicious Fresh From the Garden Ratatouille

I am pretty happy with the way my garden is doing this year. The credit is due to most oldest son who is a vegetarian and natural food fanatic. He really labored in the garden in the spring and we are now enjoy the fruit of his labor. I picked some beautiful bell peppers from the garden and two nice ichiban eggplants. I decided to make a ratatouille with these ingredients as the base.

Ichiban eggplants are originally from Japan. They are great in a dish like this because the skin is thinner than regular eggplants and they are not as spongy, so they keep their shape in the vegetable stew. I used canned tomatoes because my tomatoes have not arrived in abundance yet. The sugar is to balance the acid of the tomatoes and to curb any bitterness there might be in the eggplant. If you prefer you can substitute a grated carrot. I served this dish as a side to grilled lamb chops.

Fresh From the Garden Ratatouille

2 T olive oil
2 ichiban eggplants or 1 regular eggplant
2 green peppers
1 medium onion
1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes or 6 peeled, seeded diced plum tomatoes
2-4 nice sprigs of fresh thyme
1 c. water
1 t. sugar
salt and pepper

Leave the skin on the eggplant. Cut the eggplant, green peppers and onion into a uniform dice about of about 1/2 inch. Put the olive oil and the onions into a cold pan. Turn heat onto medium, add a bit of salt and sweat the onions. When they are clear, add the rest of the vegetables, the water and thyme. Simmer over medium covered until vegetable are tender, about 45 minutes or so. Taste. Add sugar if necessary. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

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Grilled Lamb Shoulder Chops With a Greek Style Marinade

I love lamb and I especially love grilled lamb chops. I rarely have them though because lamb loin chops are so expensive. However, shoulder chops, while not as elegant, provide an economical and flavorful alternative. The trick is to make sure you have a hot fire so you get a nice sear and to not over cook the chops so they are nice and juicy. The chops were the centerpiece of a meal inspired by my garden, which is really starting to produce. I had a couple of nice green peppers and some eggplant so I made a ratatouille. This gave me the idea of putting together a Mediterranean style dinner last night. I made a marinade for the lamb using the Greek trio of garlic, lemon and fresh oregano from my herb garden. I also made a quick rice pilaf. The whole meal was scrumptious.

Grilled Lamb Should Chops With a Greek Style Marinade

4 T olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
juice of one lemon
1 T fresh oregano chopped
1 t. salt
4 grounds of fresh black pepper
6 lamb shoulder chops

Mix together the olive oil, garlic, lemon, oregano, salt and pepper. Marinate the lamb in this mixture for at least 2 hours. Prepare a hot charcoal fire or put the gas grill on high. Sear the chops on both sides. Remove chops from direct heat, put on the grill lid and cook for another 5-10 minutes. Chops are done when clear juice runs from the chops. Cove chops and let them rest for ten minutes.

Enjoy!

Friends, Family, Food and Fireworks

We just got back from New Hampshire this past Saturday, but our vacation began last Thursday. We attended the annual gathering of my wife's extended family for food, fellowship and fireworks at her cousin's home on beautiful Lake Mohawk, NJ. This is an annual tradition. There were well over 150 people there and my wife is related to most of them. Many are descendants of Christine's grandmother and grandfather who came from Norway in the early part of the last century and eventually settled in New Jersey. I believe we have only missed one "4th of July" party at the Lake since we have been married. It is really interesting to look back over the years and see how the family has grown and how individuals have changed and yet stayed the same. This year was a little bitter sweet for us, as only one of four children came with us. The others were either working at camp or at music events they had committed to.

One of the highlights of the day is catching with old friends and family members. We break out the pictures. We talk about how the kids are doing in school. We commemorate milestones, meet new family members and just enjoy each other. And of course we eat. The eating at this annual gathering follows a time honored tradition. People begin to arrive around coffee hour. That is around 2 PM. The table will be laden with all kinds of baked goodies and there is strong, hot coffee. People roll in over the next couple of hours and take what they like from the table.

Around 4 PM or so, the goodies are cleared and the table gets prepared for dinner. We all line up and get our good. This year the main dishes were pulled pork, hot dogs, and rosemary chicken. There are all kinds of sides and salads: baked bean, fruit salads, tomato and mozzarella, and many more items to numerous to name.

After supper the table is cleared and the coffee hour cakes and goodies are brought back out, along with two enormous cakes from the Viking Bakery in Denville. One of the cakes is the general happy 4th of July cake and the other is a cake to celebrate whatever milestone we are celebrating. This year we were celebrating the engagement of the host's daughter. These Viking Bakery cakes are pretty interesting. They are the only cakes I have ever had that are covered in a thinly rolled out sheet of marzipan. Inside there is white cake, a layer of whipped cream and a thick layer of raspberry preserves. They are rich and delicious.

After we have made our way for the final time trough the food line, we take our goodies and coffee, find a good spot and settle in to watch the fireworks.

After the fireworks, my wife and drove back to her mom's house in West Orange filled to the brim, not just with the great food, but with the blessing of the abundance of family, friends, love and goodness that we have been given in this life.

Enjoy!

Frittata with Fresh Jersey Tomatoes, Mozzarella and Basil

I came back from vacation to find the first of my home grown tomatoes ready in our garden. In my book there is nothing more delicious than a Jersey tomato. You can tell by the perfect mix of sweetness and acid that a tomato has been plucked from a vine growing in New Jersey soil. I decided to use some of the tomatoes in a frittata we had for brunch. A frittata is an Italian egg dish that is kind of cross between an omelet and a quiche. It is started in a skillet like an omelet but instead of being folded over it is finished in the oven or under a broiler. If you have some fresh tomatoes try this recipe. It is delicious.

Frittata with Fresh Jersey Tomatoes, Mozzarella and Basil

6 eggs beaten
2 T grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
2 T olive oil
1 medium or 2 small fresh tomatoes, seeded an cubed
1/4-1/2 ball of mozzarella, sliced
6 leaves of fresh basil
salt and pepper

Mix the grated cheese into the eggs. Heat olive oil in oven proof skillet. Pour egg mixture into pan and draw eggs from side and fold until they are almost set. Press tomatoes into top of the egg mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Arrange mozzarella and basil on top of frittata so that about 3/4 of egg mixture is covered. Put frittata under broiler until cheese is melted and just begins to brown. Serve in wedges.

Enjoy!

Delicious Vacation Bites

I'm on vacation and taking a couple of minutes to reach out while waiting for my wife a the Border's bookstore in Keene, NH. I thought I would be able to blog while vacating, but the place we are staying doesn't have internet connection. We are in the boonies. However, I am keeping a log of some delicious bites I have had on vacation. When I get back I'll be blogging about:

• The culinary delights of 4th of July at Lake Mohawk

• Our visit to the Original Pancake House:

• and I will be posting our secret family recipe for Blueberry Kuchen.

Enjoy!

Jean Shepherd's The Great American Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July!

While we travel to New Hamphshire here's something for your viewing pleasure in celebration of the Great American Fourth of July by an American classic, Jean Shepherd. To watch parts 1-5 click on the video and you will find the rest. I'll be posting while on vacation when I am able.

Bruce Springsteen's Famous Madame Marie Dies

She was immortalized in one of Bruce Springsteen's earliest recordings. It is both fitting and ironic that one week before this 4th of July weekend, Madame Marie, the boardwalk fortune teller immortalized in Bruce's song "4th of July in Asbury Park (Sandy)", died. In the song the singer asks, "Did you hear, the cops finally busted Madame Marie for tellin' fortunes better than they do?".

Her little blue booth called the "temple of knowledge" was painted with the all seeing eye and advertised readings, tarot card, crystal ball. It survived the years of failed promises of the revival of Asbury Park. The booth stood through the declining years of the 70's, the failed promises of the 80's, the rock bottom Beirut at the Jersey Shore years of the 90's and now, the dawning promise of the new millennium and redevelopment. Madame Marie Castello was in her mid-90's. She told fortunes on the Asbury Park Boardwalk since the 1930's.

I have a 4th of July ritual of listening to The Wild, the Innocent and E Street Shuffle, the album that made Madame Marie famous to rock and roll fans from New Jersey and around the world. The reason this album and so much of Bruce's music resonates with me is it is about my youth. 4th of July in Asbury Park captures what it was like to be a teenager in the 70's at the Jersey Shore. My family had a place in Ocean Grove during those years and I hung with a gang of kids that passed their days on the beach and their nights prowling the boardwalk in Asbury Park. I spent many nights posing as a pin ball wizard in the Casino, with my smoldering Marlboro hanging off the edge of the glass and a row of quarters lined up on the front so everyone would know the pinball machine would be occupied for the next hour or so.

When we finally got old enough to drive we would find who ever had a car and cruise the circuit in Asbury Park. We piled in the car after work, (we all worked at restaurants or as step guards or umbrella boys or at the concession stands) and headed to Ocean Ave. Cruising the circuit involved starting at the south end, drivng along the beach to the north end and then back again. We would do it over and over again to pass the night. We would blast the radio (WABC or WNEW fm), hang out the windows and try to be cooler than the kids in the other car. Sometimes we would turn the radio down to listen to the music coming out of the clubs on the circuit. The bands playing in those bars became the stuff of legend and created the sound of Asbury Park. Sometimes we would stop at The Wonder Bar or Mrs. Jay's and try to get served. We hoped we might catch the eye of a member of the opposite sex, but mostly we were just having fun being young and alive,wild and free.

Today Asbury is not the same town I grew up with. It went through three decades of the worst kind of economic depression and political corruption any town in the USA has seen. The beginning of this decade, the developers finally started building and it's future is a high priced ocean front for wealthy aging baby boomers. The great thing is that there are people there who still remember. The Palace Amusements that once sported Tillie's face smiling down on us kids has been demolished for townhouses, but a replica of Tillie's face now beams from The Wonder Bar. Madam Marie's is still there. Hopefully it will stay in the family and someone will still be there telling fortunes better than the cop's do.

I posted this video as a memorial to Madame Marie. It is Bruce Springsteen in his early days, singing 4th of July in Asbury Park.



Credits:
the Madam Marie booth is by Absinthe Green the Tillie face is by sister72. Both licensed by Creative Commons

Fantastic Friday Night Treats at Schneider's Restaurant

This past Friday night my wife, my daughter and I took part in one of my favorite summer activities: enjoying an ice cream concoction featuring Schneider's Restaurant homemade ice cream. The Jersey Shore is filled with home made ice cream places and i think I may do an end of the summer tour of some of my favorites. However, Schneider's has a special place in my heart, because my folks used to have a summer home in Avon by the Sea, NJ, where Schneider's is located. In addition to enjoying the beautiful beach on weekends and during our vacation at Grandma and Grandpa's house, regular visits to Schnediers was part of the schedule. Back then Schneider's had an ice cream stand next to their main restaurant where folks would line up for their delicious treats.

Today that stand is gone but their great ice cream is served inside their main restaurant. In addition to ice cream Schneider's is famous for home made German, Austrian and Hungarian food. If you want authentic food following the traditional recipes of this region Schneider's is one of the last remaining places at the shore you can find these items of the menu. I have had the Weinerschnitzel at Schneider's which is excellent--thin, light and crispy as it should be. I have also enjoyed Schneider's golden brown potato pancakes and their wurst sampler which is a platter of bratwurst, knockwurst, red cabbage and home made German potato salad. Other regional dishes on the menu include sauerbraten, pickled herring in sour cream, and Hungarian goulash. If you are in the mood for regional cuisine, you can find the usual menu items: burgers, sandwiches, fresh fish, etc.

We visited Schneider's on Friday not for the great food, but for their fantastic "fountain treats" as they call them. As I already mentioned, the ice cream at Schneider's is homemade. It is high in butter fat content and has a fantastic creaminess to it. Their are a couple of flavors that are Schneider's exclusives such as meatloaf, which is a base of chocolate ice cream loaded with maple walnuts, chocolate chips and other goodies. It is my wife's favorite. Cherry chocolate, peanut butter chunk and cherries jubilee are other Schneider's originals.

Schneider's makes fantastic concoctions built on their ice cream. My wife ordered a hot fudge sundae. Their sundaes are generous and topped off with freshly whipped heavy cream and homemade cookie. My daughter had a waffle with ladled ice cream. This is one of the signature items on Schneider's ice cream menu as far as I am concerned. It starts with a freshly baked waffle. Then the waffle is covered from edge to edge with two flavors of ice cream. It is big enough to share and so I ordered an ice cream soda and glommed a couple of bites of my daughter's waffle. I have recently discovered that there are people who do not know what an ice cream soda is. It starts with something that New Yorkers call an egg cream. This is seltzer water blended with chocolate syrup and a bit of milk. To transform an egg cream into an ice cream soda, Schneider's add a couple of scoops of ice cream (I chose chocolate) and then tops is off with more of that rich freshly whipped cream and a cherry.

What more could you as for on a warm night in early summer. Next time you head to the beach take a trip to Schnedier's. Make sure you leave room for ice cream

Enjoy!

Quick and Delicious Tomato Sausage Pasta Sauce

I am not adverse to opening up a jar of good quality Pasta sauce from time to time. In fact a company that sells mostly in our New York metro area, Victoria, has a better vodka sauce than anything homemade I have tasted. That being said, it so easy to whip up a quick tomato sauce that unless I am really pressed for time I usually will throw something together. That is exactly what I did yesterday and I have a new favorite quick sauce. I wanted to do a meat sauce, but I only had large portions of ground beef in the freezer, but I did have a small package of sweet Italian sausage, so I took the sausage meat out of the casing and fried it up like ground beef. I then added it to the quick tomato sauce and the result was bellissimo. I have some left over that I am going to enjoy for lunch today.

Quick and Delicious Tomato Sausage Pasta Sauce

2 T olive oil
1 medium onion diced
4 cloves garlic
1 medium carrot grated
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
1 28 oz. can tomato sauce
1 t. fresh thyme
1 lb. sweet Italian sausage removed from the casing
salt and pepper to taste

Sweat the onions and garlic in the olive oil. Add the carrots, tomatoes and thyme. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Brown the sausage meat, drain of excess fat and crumble the meat. Add to the tomato sauce. Simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over pasta with grated Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

Keeping Busy

House Hubbie's Home Cooking has been idle for a couple of days, but the house hubbie has not. I have been working on a blog project that has been on the back burners for about a year. It is called Nana and Pa's Place. It is a labor of love in celebration of my wife's big Norwegian American family. The vision I have for it is that it will be a gathering place for people that are connected either as family or friends to Nana an Pa Noding, the couple who started the American branch of the Noding family when they arrived in the USA in the twenties, drove cross country in a Model T (pictured above) and drove back to settle in West Orange, NJ. (That's the short version of the story). I had the idea to do this last year when almost the entire gang gathered on Cape Cod for the wedding of my wife's nephew. I had been working on my family's genealogy and decided it would be great to map out all the descendants of Nana and Pa (there are almost 200 hundred of them). I used a program called Family Tree Maker and the Ancestry website for my own family and used the same for the Nodings. When I got to the Cape I discovered that several other people where working on the family history and we had the idea of a central place we could compare notes. It is a little long in coming, but since I will see many of the clan members over the 4th of July weekend, I wanted to have something to show them.

By the way, I have a couple of great new recipes to post in the next couple of days, so stay tuned!

Enjoy!

Norwegian Style Cucumber Dill Salad

Cucumbers were on sale at the market yesterday, so I made one of my favorite summer salads. I keep it pretty simple, but just taking a couple of extra steps make this salad special. First, I do not peel the cucumbers, rather I score them with a fork or this special tool my wife got when she was a Pampered Chef consultant. If you buy cucumbers that have wax on them to make them shiny, you can keep the skin on by washing the cukes well with a grease cutting dish detergent and hot water, otherwise you will have to peel them.

Another step I take is to crisp up the cukes and get some of the water out of them by salting them well and letting them sit in a colander for an hour or so. Don't skip this step, it makes a difference in the final product.

Finally, if you have fresh dill available, use it. It is the dill that makes this "Norwegian style". You can use other fresh herbs such as mint which will give it a Middle Eastern twist, flat leaf parsley, or oregano, which will give it a Greek twist. Don't use any herbs if they are dry rather than fresh.

My last trick is to make the dish at a day before serving. Although you can eat it right away, allowing it to steep in the dressing and herbs, causes the flavors to develop and meld together.

Norwegian Style Cucumber Dill Salad

4 unwaxed cucumbers
1 medium onion
1 t. salt

Score cucumbers, slice thin. Slice onions thin. Mix in salt and allow to stand in colander for several hours.

1 c. white vinegar
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. water
a few twist of the pepper mill
1 T of fresh dill, chopped

Mix together the vinegar, sugar, water and pepper. Rinse the cuke mixture to remove some of the of the salt. Add to vinegar mixture. Add fresh dill. Refrigerate until service.

Enjoy!

Nathan's: Gourmet Fast Food At a Garden State Parkway Rest Stop

Yesterday we drove round trip to take my son and his friend to the camp in New Hampshire that he is working at for the summer. We got to New Jersey and the beginning of the Garden State Parkway just in time for the Friday night shore traffic.

Since our ninety mile trip on the parkway would probably take us two and a half hours or more with the traffic we decided to stop for dinner at the northern most Garden State Parkway rest stop. For those of you whose roads don't have such things, let me explain that New Jersey toll roads have these rest stop that include bathroom facilities, a store, recent immigrant guys selling sun glasses from kiosks, ATM machines and food courts.

The two nicest rest stops are the Montvale rest stop at mile post 171 and the Cheesquake rest stop at miles post 123. We stopped at the Montvale rest stop and were interested primarily in the food court. I decided to get supper from Nathan's.

Nathan's is that famous hot dog stand in Coney Island where the world famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating contest is held. Of course through the magic of franchising and branding there are Nathan's places in malls, rest stops and many other places. You can also buy Nathan's hot dogs and condiments in many grocery stores. New Yorkers and New Jerseyites take their hot dogs very seriously. (I have blogged about the wiener wars going on in the town that I grew up in. You can read about it here.) What makes the dogs around here great is that they are usually all beef and they always have a natural casing that splits when you cook them and snaps when you bite into them. Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs are one of the best examples of the high quality New York metro dog.

What gets me really excited about eating at Nathan's though, are their fries. Being the carbo king that I am, of course I have an opinion about Nathan's fries. I am inclined to agree with those that claim that Nathan's fries are some of the best in the business. Nathan's fries are pretty unique. They are made from fresh potatoes and they are "krinkle cut" into thick chunks of starchy goodness. I have a theory that the really great road food places like Nathan's have a "starter fat" that is kind of like a sour dough starter from the original oil fat that is passed around to the company's expanding universe, because all fries from Nathan's share a uniquely delicious Nathan's flavor. You can have your fries with cheese sauce or with chili sauce, but being the boardwalk prowler that I am, I have mine with malt vinegar and ketchup.

Next time you are riding on the Garden State Parkway stop at one of the Nathan's in a rest stop for some delicious Garden State Parkway gourmet fast food.

Enjoy!

Heading to New Hampshire

The family is getting on the road early to head to New Hampshire today. We are dropping my son and his friend off to Camp Spofford were my youngest son will work on staff in the kitchen.

We usually stop and eat on the road but with the high cost of fuel we are going on the cheap. I picked up a bag of Manhattan Bagels. They are not quite the real thing, but they are the closest thing we have around here to real New York bagels unless you head to the Hasidic section of of the town next to us.

Have a great day everyone!

Car Trouble

About three weeks ago my son totaled our green Ford Fiesta ZX5. We loved that car and it was the car my daughter planned to take to college next year. We drive a Dodge mini-van and a giant V8 Dodge conversion van, which is on its last legs. Neither are great on gas. We got a decent insurance settlement for the Ford Fiesta and gave a down payment to a guy to get us a decent used car at an auction in our area. No luck yet.

It seems like the four dollar plus price of gas is taking its toll on the used car market. You can buy all kinds of trucks, SUVs, and the like for not a lot of money, but small used fuel efficient cars are as scarce as hens teeth. So we are waiting and shopping and praying for the right vehicle.

I am wondering if Canada is far ahead of us with a plan to move their population toward energy efficiency. I read on the Canadian Finance Guy's, Investing My Way to Financial Freedom, about his purchase of a green automobile and the incentives the Canadian Government offers in his post entitled Eco Auto Rebate.

To bad NJ or the Federal government doesn't have something similar. About two thousand bucks more than the settlement would do the trick for us.

Brown Rice and Wheat Berry Pilaf

I had a side dish like this for the first time way back in the 80's when our family lived in Kearny, NJ. I had it at this great restaurant called The Park and Orchard. It is a great "whole foods" restaurant. I enjoyed the dish so much that I created my own version which has become a standard. Last night we had this with pan roasted shrimp and zucchini. Wheat berries are kind of an unusual ingredient. They are simply whole kernals of wheat. They should be soaked before cooking unless you want to cook the dish for an hour or more. They add a toothsome nuttiness to the pilaf.

Brown Rice and Wheat Berry Pilaf

2 T olive oil
1 medium onion, minced
1/4 cup of soft white wheat berries
1 cup of brown rice
2 cups good quality vegetable broth
1 cup water
salt, pepper, fresh herbs to taste

Soak the wheat berries overnight or boil in small amount of water, let stand off the heat for 2 hours.

Sweat onion in the oil until they are transparent. Add the wheat berries, rice, stock and water. Bring to a boil, stir, turn down heat to low, cover pan and cook for 35-45 minutes until rice and wheat are tender and most of the liquid is absorbed. Taste and add seasonsings.

Enjoy!

Tortellini with Turkey, Tomatoes and Brocolli

I needed something quick and easy last night so I made this dish. I don't usually use prepared foods, but I did last night to save time and because the prepared Perdue Turkey Breast was on sale. I adapted the recipe from one that was on the package. It turned out really good. My vegetarian son is home from college for the summer so I was able to scoop out a serving of the pasta and veggies before adding the meat.

1 package Perdue Shortcuts Turkey Breast
1 lb. bag of cheese tortellini
2 T. olive oil
2 heads of broccoli cut into florets (about 1 lb)
4 cloves of garlic minced
1 can of tomatoes drained and diced.
about 1 cup of the pasta cooking water
1/4 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 T. butter
salt and pepper

Prepare the tortellini in boiling water. Be sure not to overcook.

Heat olive in skillet. Add the broccoli and cook until bright green. Add the garlic and cook, but do not allow it to brown. Add the tomatoes and the pasta cooking water. Cover and cook until broccoli is almost tender. Remove cover and add the tortellini. Continue cooking until liquid is almost evaporated. Add the cheese and the butter. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the turkey and heat through just before serving.

Enjoy

Grow Your Blog by Learning From Successful Bloggers

I have two goals in blogging. One is to have fun and find an outlet for my creative expressions. House Hubbie's Home Cookin' is a great way to do this. I have another blog that is connected to the small church in Toms River, NJ that I pastor that serves a similar purpose. As a stay at home Dad with two kids in college, the second purpose is to generate additional streams of income by writing and blogging. I have been trying to figure out how to "monetize" my blog and there are all kinds of helps on the web.

I recently found a blog entitled called "Free Advertising Suggestions". It is written by a guys who offers all kinds of suggestions freely from the lessons he has learned in life. This guy mantains a couple of blogs in addition to this one and has learned some lessons about how to grow his blog. I found this post entitled, "Blog Presentation Tips" particularly helpful. If you are interested in growing you blog readership, I would suggest that you it out.

The Best Pizza at the New Jersey Shore

I am a pizza lover. I love the thin, slightly charred crust pizza that New Jersey is famous for. In my town there must be fifteen or twenty pizzerias. Just about every pizzeria is great for a quick slice with a coke for lunch, but in our area there are a couple of places that are true standouts. Today I would like to write about my favorite pizzas at the New Jersey Shore.

When I am hungry for pizza at home, I get mine delivered from Pyro Pizza. It is located in the plaza at 515 Brick Boulevard, near the Top Tomato Italian Market. Pyro Pizza is famous for their gourmet pizza and the two that I like best are their Chicken Parmesan Pizza and their Italian Sausage with Browned Onions Pizza. It is great stuff.

When I am in the mood for something special, it is a toss up between my two favorite pizzerias in the world: Vic's in Bradley Beach, NJ and Pete and Eldas (AKA Carmine' Pizzeria) in Neptune City, NJ. I grew up eating Vic's Pizza as a kid spending my summers in Ocean Grove, NJ and then in high school I discovered the pleasures of the paper thin crust Pete and Eldas pie.

Vic's pizza is distinguished by a thin, crispy and slightly charred crust. Their sauce is homemade and very garlicky. The place has been run by the same family forever and it hasn't been redecorated since it opened. It is a hugely popular place and on a weekend night after 5:30 be prepared to wait, even during the off season. My favorite pie to eat at Vic's is their signature green pepper and sausage pie. The peppers are sliced thin and the sausage is lump sausage without the casing. My mouth water's just writing about it! Another treat to have at Vic's is their garlic bread. They serve little rounds of Italian bread loaded with olive oil, fresh minced garlic and toasted in the pizza oven.

Pete and Eldas Bar and Carmines Pizzaria is another Jersey Shore institution. It is always packed with college kids, families and weekenders. Everyone is lining up for their famous paper thin crust pizza. The crust on these pies is very unique. It is thin and flaky and crunches when you bite into it. I usually just go for the regular pie. One of the unique offers that this place has is a free t-shirt for anyone who eats an extra large pie by themselves. Trying for the t-shirt is a Jersey Shore right of passage. My kids have earned a few of them over the years. There is pretty cool gallery of t-shirts on the web you might want to check out.

When I get pizza at the Seaside Boardwalk, there are two pizzerias that compete for my affection. One is Maruca's Tomatoe Pies and the other is the pizza from the Sawmill.

Maruca's is one of the original pizza stands on the Seaside boardwalk and they are have recently begun selling franchises. There is now a Maruca's right in my home town of Brick. I haven't tried the Brick store yet, but it is on my list. I have to say, though, that for me Maruca's mean the boardwalk. Maruca's is a pretty unique pie in the way that it is constructed. The cheese is put down first and then the sauce i poured on in a signature spiral. You always know you are eating a Maruca's pie by the way it looks.

For shear volume pizza eating at the boards, Sawmill does the trick. At the Sawmill you can eat at a table outside or go inside. The Sawmill is a bar and music venue, but for me they are the destination for a fairly inexpensive tasty fill up. A Sawmill pie is huge. However, it is also a great tasting thin crust pie that pushes all the right pizza lover buttons. My family and my friend Matt's family usually take an annual jaunt to the Seaside Park end of Seaside's famous boardwalk to enjoy the Sawmill experience.

I have heard that because of the price of gas and the general economic slowdown we are experiencing that lots of folks are coming to the Jersey Shore this summer. The parkway traffic bears this weekend bears this out. So if a trip to the shore is in your plans, be sure to check out one of the great Jersey Shore pizza places. You'll be glad you did.

Enjoy!

Spinach with Golden Raisins and Pine Nuts

Here is another recipe which I cooked today to use the rest of our bumper crop of spinach.

About 8 cups of spinach leaves with stems removed and rinsed to remove sand.
2 T extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup golden raisins
2 T red wine vinegar
1 t brown sugar
salt and pepper

Sweat the garlic in the EVOO. Toast the pine nut in the same pan watching them carefully so they do not burn. Wash the spinach and add it to the pan while still slightly damp. Add the golden raisins and the red wine vinegar and the brown sugar. Stir together. Cook over low heat with pan covered until all the spinach is just wilted and has turned a vibrant green. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

How To Supreme Citrus Fruit

Since I my previous recipe called for the citrus fruit to be supremed, I thought I would share this instructive video from updowngroupfood on how to do this technique.

Enjoy!

Spinach Salad with Fresh Citrus and Pecans

I have a boatload of fresh spinach from the garden my vegetarian son maintains in our backyard. I was looking for a spinach salad recipe and came across this one from Taste of Home via Foodbuzz. I didn't have all the ingredients so I adapted it with what I had on hand and it came out very well. My vegetarian son gave it two thumbs up. I used the Taste of Home dressing recipe but added the juice from the fresh citrus I substituted for the mandarin oranges. I also substituted pecans for the almonds and skipped the sugaring step. I omitted the romaine and substituted shallots for the green onions. Give it try. I hope you enjoy it.

Spinach Salad w/ Fresh Citrus and Pecans

7 cups fresh spinach washed with tough stems removed.
2 fresh oranges, supremed
1 fresh grapefruit, supremed
(reserve juice from citrus)
3/4 cups pecans
2 minced shallots

Dressing

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup white vinegar
reserved juice from citrus
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
3/4 teaspoon salt

Combine all ingredients for the dressing and whisk until sugar dissolves and dressing is well blended.

Combine all the salad ingredients. Pour dressing on salad until spinach leaves are just coated. Serve reserved dressing with the salad for those who like more.

Enjoy!

Time to Grill! (The best london broil marinade recipe)

Memorial Day Weekend at the Jersey Shore signals many things. For the locals like me, it signals lots of traffic on the weekends and our once lonely beaches crowded with folk from "up north", for several months. It signals the warm and balmy weather, and the date to plant the Big Boy tomatoes, pole beans and squash. For a foodie like me the most anticipated signal is the beginning of grilling season.

I have been trying to hone my grilling skills over the past few years. I used to be a gas grill man. Just step out onto the back deck, fire the grill and throw on the burgers, dogs or steak. It's quick and easy. However, grilling this way does not really add anything to the flavor of the food. So I made the switch back to old fashioned charcoal grilling. There are a couple of essentials for charcoal grilling. I got rid of my gas grill and picked up a Weber Kettle. I also picked up a fire chimney starter. Starting your coals this way eliminates the biggest objection to charcoal grilling which is taste of lighter fluid which can ruin the taste of a great steak. A fire chimney starter is a way to get red hot coals really fast. You put a sheet of newspaper in the bottom chamber of the starter and pile the charcoal in the top chamber. Light the newspaper with a match or lighter and about ten minutes later---searing hot coals. Another step that I took in my development as a charcoal griller was to buy hardwood chunk charcoal instead of briquettes. This kind of charcoal is more expensive, but it is worth the extra money.

Now that you have your grill set-up its time to grill and one my favorite things to grill is Savory Marinated London Broil. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Savory Marinated London Broil

1 4-7 lb. beef round for london broil (the oyster cut is the best if you can find it)

Marinade
1/3 cup of olive oil
1 clove of garlic smashed
3 T ketchup
2 T soy sauce
1 T Worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Mix marinade ingredients together, pour into zip lock bag. Put London broil into bag and marinate in refrigerator for 2 hours.

Grill London broil until it is medium rare to medium (about 145 internal temp). Rest for 10 minutes. Slice thin across the grain of the meat. (This last step is especially important because if you don't the meat will be tough.)

Enjoy!

Cavatelli with Broccoli

This is one of my family favorite recipes and one I developed on my own. You can find many different variations on this dish, but I think what sets this recipe apart is that it does not have a heavy and gloppy sauce. The secret is create the sauce by deglazing the pan with cooking water to the pasta and then enriching it with some butter and parmesan cheese. I think you will enjoy it.

Cavatelli with Broccoli (a Meyer family secret recipe revealed)

2 T extra virgin olive oil
A bunch of fresh broccoli chopped (usually the broccoli is sold with three heads in a bunch)4-7 cloves of garlic
one package frozen cavatelli
1 cup pasta cooking water
2 T butter
1/2 Parmesan cheese
a splash of extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Cook pasta, being sure to reserve some of the water.

Chop broccoli. Saute in 2 T extra virgin olive oil. when broccoli is bright green make a hot spot in the pan and saute the garlic. Add about a 1/2 cup of water, cover and steam for about 5 minutes until broccoli is tender. Remove from heat.

Add the cooked pasta to the pan and deglaze the pan with about 1 cup of the cooking liquid. Cook off most of the liquid. There should be a light sauce that clings to the pasta and broccoli. Add the butter and the Parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Add a bit more extra virgin olive oil just before serving.

This is a really quick, easy and inexpensive family supper.

It's Rhubarb Time

Rhubarb is one the harbingers of spring and one of those seasonal items that makes this time of year special. We don't have rhubard growing in the back yard, but this past week we took a trip out to Columbus Flea Market in western Jersey and in the Amish bakery they were selling rhubarb for a dollar a bunch. I had my wife buy some so we could make some rhubarb bars, a recipe we picked up while we were living in Pennsylvania during my seminary days. I think you'll like it.

Rhubarb Bars

Crust:

1 1/3 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup butter

Combine ingredients and press into a 9x13 cake pan.

Filling:

2 cups sugar
1/3 cup flour
2 eggs
3 cups chopped rhubard

Mix the filling, spoon into the crust and bake for 45 minutes at 350.

Pork Schnitzel with Brown Butter Noodles

Schnitzel is one of those common Northern European dishes. It is most commonly made with veal, but given that it is so expensive, I make mine with pork. I don't know where we got the recipe for the gravy we serve this with or what ethnicity it is from. I do know that my grandmother who passed away in the 1960's was the one who handed this recipe down to my mother, who then handed it down to me. It is definitely on of our family favorites.

You could serve this with boiled or mashed potatoes, but I prefer noodles, which I always dress with brown butter. The brown butter imparts a nutty sweet flavor to the noodles. I also usually serve this with red cabbage, but the asparagus are really good right now so that's what we had for the vegetable.

Pork Schnitzel

6 thin boneless pork chops or pork cutlets (If using pork chops trim them of all fat)
flour
salt
pepper
2 eggs
bread crumbs
2 Canola oil
1 T Butter

Pound the chops or cutlets until they are about a quarter of an inch thick. Mix about 1 t of salt and 1/4 t of pepper per cup of flour. Dredge pork in flour. Shake off excess flour, dip in beaten eggs and then breadcrumbs.

Heat oil and butter in pan until it is shimmery. Brown the pork on one site until it is a deep golden brown. Turn over and brown on other side. Drain pork of excess fat on a paper towel or brown paper bag.

Tomatoes and Onion Gravy

1 1/2 T butter
1 small or 1/2 medium onion diced
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup ketchup

Discard excess fat from pan. Heat butter in pan until it bubbles. Add onion and cook until clear. Add water and cook for a few minutes more scrapping off all the brown goodness from the pan. Reduce by 1/2. Add ketchup and cook until sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon. Serve on the side of the schnitzel.

St. Pattie's Day Leftovers

We have a traditional St. Pattie's Day dinner with family and friends and even thought this year St. Pattie's Day was eliminated from the Liturgical calendar because it fell during Holy Week, our family celebrated anyway, honoring our Irish Heritage and enjoying the usual feast.

Christine always makes Irish Soda Bread. She makes three loaves: one to give away, one with caraway seeds for me and other caraway seed fans and one sans the seeds for the non-fans. One of the kids cuts the crosses in the loaves "to let fairies out" before the are put in the oven. The recipe she usually uses is Irish Rosie's Irish Soda Bread from Recipezaar.

I cook a boiled dinner of corned beef, cabbage and potatoes. I cook the potatoes and carrots in the corn beef boiling liquid about 45 minutes before we are going to eat. I cook the cabbage separately. When I was growing up we used to have smoked pork butt, cabbage and potatoes. We would have this as just part of our regular menu. Nothing special. This is the real Irish boiled dinner, but since smoked pork butt is horrendously expensive we buy the corn beef that is on special just before St. Pattie's day. I have taught my family and whatever guests we have to fix the cabbage and potatoes the way we fixed them growing up. You cut up the boiled wedge of cabbage, mash up the potatoes, top them with butter, salt, pepper and splash of cider or malt vinegar (the vinegar is a must). Then you mix it all together into a delicious heap. That's the way to eat cabbage and potatoes!

We always cook more corned beef and potatoes than we need. Sometimes if we have left over cabbage I will use the cabbage and potatoes later in the week to make Bubble and Squeak, but what everyone in the house looks forward to Corned Beef Hash. The best Corned Beef Hash of course is from the Carnegie Deli in NYC, which I haven't been to in years. I have tried to make a reasonable facsimile of their recipe, minus the green peppers.

Corned Beef Hash

6 medium potatoes
1/2 onion
2 lb. cooked corned beef
2 T. vegetable oil

Boil the potatoes with their skin on just until a fork pierces them. Remove from heat and run under cold water. Remove skins from potatoes and cut into cubes. Mince onion and dice corn beef. Heat oil in a heavy pan, brown potatoes in pan on one side. Move potatoes to one side and cook onion until clear. Mix onions and potatoes together and brown for a bit more. Add the corn beef and mix together. Cook until Corn Beef is hot and everything has a nice brown crust. Serve by itself or with poached eggs.

Enjoy

Clifton Wiener Wars

I have been really, really swamped lately and haven't been a very good house hubbie. I am falling behind on the laundry and my cooking has been pretty basic, so I haven't had any great recipes or reports of meals to blog about.

However this past week I traveled up the Garden State Parkway to drop some music off to my son studying music at Montclair State University. I had a couple of hours before Rob got out of class and could meet up with him so I took a journey back to my hometown of Clifton, NJ to lunch on a Hot Grill Texas Weiner.

Clifton is a center of one of the great wiener wars of all time. It rages between The Hot Grill and their Texas Wieners and Rutt's Hut and their deep fried "rippers" and their secret relish.

Rutt's Hut dogs are unique in that when they are deep fried, they split open, thus the name "rippers". The natural casing of the hot dog crisps up and crunches when you bite into it. The main ingredients in their relish secret recipe is sweet pickle relish and mustard, and it has a vibrant yellow color. Sometimes a Rutt's Hut dog is just the thing.

However, most of the time, I am a Hot Grill guy. Hot Grill dogs are fried (not deep fried) so their skin "pops" like when you bite into it. The most popular way to order a Hot Grill dog is "all the way". This is a dog on a soft warm bun, with mustard, raw onions and the Hot Grill signature Texas Weiner sauce, which is a spicy red chili sauce.

I don't think the Clifton Wiener war will ever be won, at least I hope not, because I want to bring my great grand kids to these institutions 30 years from now. If you want to take sides in the battle, take a detour on your way to or from NYC someday. The Hot Grill is just off Route 46 and Rutt's Hut in on Route 21 just off S3.

A Scary Parental Project

I just got back from giving my 16 years old son a driving lesson. It was a bit frightening. We stopped off afterward at a favorite little joint, Surf Taco. It is definitely a Jersey Shore locals kind of a vibe. The closest one to us is the one in the Toms River, Silverton section, but the coolest are the original Point Pleasant Beach store and the http://www.seasideparknj.org/ store, in that order.

I had a chicken taco in a crispy tortilla and a grilled steak taco. Matt had the steak taco and the buffalo chicken taco. We ordered extra chips, which are perfectly fried, and got a few different salsas. The verde salsa is a spicy tomatillo based sauce. My favorite is the baja, which is made from some smokey chilles. The mild is also great, but the hot is way to hot for me.

It was a great end to a scary but exciting ride.

Great Cooks Blogroll

I joined the Great Cooks Blogroll. It is maintained by the Simply Daily Recipes, which is a great sign I recently found.

Pea Soup

This is a great recipe to make when you have a ham bone left over. We had a spiral sliced ham when my daughter was home from college and I put the bone and the leaving in the freezer. When it snowed the other day it was my signal to make this simple and stick to your ribs comfort food. You have to make the homemade croutons. It just isn't the same without them.

Pea Soup

Stock

Ham Bone and left over ham
1 onion
2 carrots
2 celery ribs
bay leaf
thyme
6 pepper corns
water

Place all ingredients in stock pot. Add enough water to cover. Bring to boil. Skim any scum that rises to the top. Lower heat to a gentle simmer, cook for 4 or more hours. Strain stock and put aside ham bone and ham pieces. Chill stock and remove fat. You should have 6 to 8 cups of stock.

Soup

2 leeks
2 ribs celery
2 carrots
2 T olive oil
ham stock
1 bag of dried peas, rinsed and picked through
salt and pepper to taste
ham or smoked sausage
croutons


Dice the leeks, carrots and celery. Sweat the vegetables in the olive oil. Add the ham stock and simmer for about 1 hour. Add the dried peas and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour until peas are tender. Take about half of the soup and put through a food mill. Shred the left over ham or dice the smoked sausage and add to soup. Correct for seasoning. Serve soup with croutons.

Croutons

Good quality bread cubed
olive oil
garlic salt

Toss bread in olive oil and bake in one layer until brown and crispy. Sprinkle with garlic salt.

Creamy Lemon Oat Bars

Since it snowed yesterday I had to bake. I made Creamy Lemon Oat Bars, which I had never made before. They were FANTASTIC!!!!

Apple Butter Glazed Pork Chops

This is one of those "whatever I can find in the fridge" recipes I threw together last night. It turned out pretty good.

6 Pork Chops 3/4 of an inch thick
1 T. canola oil
salt
pepper
sugar
3/4 cups dry vermouth
3 T apple butter
1/3 cup orange juice
1 T butter

Season chops on both sides with salt and pepper. Sprinkle one side of chop with sugar. Put oil in cold skillet. Place chops sugared side down in cold skillet, pressing into the pan. Turn pan to medium heat and cook on one side for about 6 minutes until chops are browned on one side. (You should hear pan sizzle after about two minutes or the pan is not hot enough). Turn over chops and cook for another 4 to 6 minutes until internal temp is 140 on an instant read thermometer. Remove chops from pan and cover with aluminum foil.

Turn up heat on pan and brown the juices that are left in the pan. Deglaze the pan with the vermouth. Reduce by half. Add the apple butter and orange juice and any juice that the meat has given up to pan. Stir over heat until a sauce is formed. Add a bit of water if sauce is to thick. Stir in butter over low heat. Correct seasonings. Return chops to pan and gently heat, coating chops with the pan sauce.

YUM!

I served this last night with a side of this noodle, cabbage and sour cream dish I make. Was it good!