pork chops + risotto

last night i got very ambitious and decided to cook up some pork chops and attempt to master butternut squash risotto :) at one point i had all four burners going at the same time which was slightly stressful but i had emily over so she helped me out!

i marinated the pork chops in a caribbean jerk marinade and then pan fried them. i don't cook pork and i clearly need more experience because my pork came out well done :( luckily for me well done pork isn't nearly as bad as well done beef so it was still edible! emily helped me caramelize some onions and then i whipped up a quick sauce using a roux and then adding in some of the marinade (from the bottle...not what was on the pork) to give it a little more flavor! towards the end, i added in the onions and it turned out quite nicely. not gonna lie, i was proud of myself for making it work!

then came the risotto. a few weeks ago i attempted to make butternut squash risotto but didn't have enough squash so it was more bacon-y than squash-y. well this time, i only added two strips of fresh bacon (and the safeway guy was giving me crap--he even asked if i was gonna get more bacon than last time to which i replied: nope! just two this time!) and one pound of pre-cut squash. i roasted it in the oven for about 30 minutes but i still don't think that was enough because some pieces were still hard. i went at it with the potato masher but i couldn't get it all.

in the risotto i added a little cinnamon and rosemary to add some flavor. i think it worked out quite nicely. and i had arugula (when do i not?) so i added some in at the end with a LOT of cheese. you can't have risotto without, cheese. that would just be boring! i'm still not 100% happy with how it turned out so i figure third time's a charm!! maybe in a few weeks ;)