City chicken, i.e. trip down memory lane

Tonight we had the minister who is marrying us over for dinner. I was surprised by how uninspired I was to cook, even after a couple glasses of wine and two hours spent viewing cooking blogs last week. Since I  couldn't make a dinner out of desserts however delicious and old standbys, including shake and bake chicken, just weren't going to cut it, it was a time for serious thought. At last... success! The best part of tonight's meal was that "City Chicken" was something my grandma made for Jennifer and me and her mom made for her. Basically, it is a pork dish make to look like chicken since during the Great Depression pork was cheap and chicken was glamorous.  How things change. Oh, and my grandma's recipe had MSG as an ingredient. This one substitutes paprika. I used Spanish paprika, which was great.

Ok, my food picture-taking ability sucks. So, I'm stealing another picture online. Hopefully things will improve with time!

City Chicken

Isn't it cute? Stolen from http://stolenmomentscooking.com/city-chicken/
Other good things to note is that the gravy was SUPER-easy to make (thankfully). Making gravy has always scared me!

• 2 lbs. boneless pork cutlets, cubed
• Bamboo skewers, cut in half and soaked in water for at least 20 minutes
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1 c. breadcrumbs
• 1 c. flour
• 1 t. each salt, pepper, paprika
• 6 T. butter
• 2 c. chicken stock
• 1/4 – 1/3 c. flour

1. Skewer about 5-6 cubes of pork on each bamboo skewer.
2. In a shallow plate, whisk together eggs and milk. In a second shallow plate, combine flour, bread crumbs and seasonings. Dip skewers in eggs then in flour mixture until completely covered. Refrigerate breaded skewers for at least 30 minutes to help the breading stick.
3. Melt butter in a large skillet. Place as many skewers as will fit in the skillet. Brown on all sides, about 2 minutes per side. Transfer to a baking dish. Once all browned skewers are in baking dish, pour chicken stock on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 – 1 1/2 hours.
4. Remove pork from the oven. Pour the baking liquid into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Dissolve flour in an equal amount of water. Slowly drizzle the flour into the pan and stir. Boil until thickened to desired consistency. Serve gravy with the city chicken skewers.

Cumulus spiced eggs

Stolen from: http://thestonesoup.com/blog/

I placed this on a bed of fettuccine, which was awesome. And of course I gave Justin 3X the pasta serving so he'd actually get full.

This was amazing. Will definitely make again. Hmm, maybe Tuesday!

cumulus spiced eggs
serves 2

These eggs are a simplified version of a dish served at one of my favourite Melbourne restaurants, Cumulus Inc. They bake the eggs in individual cast iron pots but I’ve found cooking on the stove top with a lid on so the top of the eggs steam gives just as good results.
I like to use an ‘arriabata’ tomato sauce which has in-built chilli spice. But you could just add your own fresh chilli.

1 jar tomato pasta sauce (about 1 1/2 cups)
1-2 teaspoons ground coriander
4 handfuls baby spinach leaves
4 eggs
small handful soft goats cheese

1. Heat a little oil in a large frying pan. Add sauce and spice and bring to a simmer.
2. Add baby spinach and stir for about a minute, until the sauce has come back up to a simmer.
3. Make 4 indents in the sauce. Crack an egg into each indent.
4. Cover with a lid and gently simmer for 3-4 minutes or until the egg whites are set and the yolks still runny.
5. Season. Crumble over the goats cheese.