Mediterranean Pork Chops Sheet Pan Dinner

Mediterranean Pork Chops Sheet Pan Dinner

Hallooo my friends, I have an easy sheet pan dinner recipe for you today as well as another update on my food cart, Austin Street Tacos.

First things first, let’s get to the recipe. Sheet pan dinners are great as you just have one pan to clean up after. The slight downside to this one is you have to remove the pan a couple of times, at least I have to with my bottom broiler. I mistimed my broiling time a tad too, so the potatoes are a bit “crisp” however I got no complaints from the hubby on that, he loves crispy potatoes! I used baby red and Yukon gold potatoes and asparagus as my green veggie, but you could use any other potatoes or veggies you want. Potatoes should be even sized about 1 inch or so, and most veggies will cook along with the pork. Adjust timing as necessary.

Here’s how you do this:

Mediterranean Pork Chops Sheet Pan Dinner

3 tablespoons olive oil
Juice from one large lemon
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 tablespoons fresh chopped oregano (2 teaspoons dried)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
3 to 4 thick pork chops, any kind
1 pound baby potatoes (cut any large ones in half)
1/2 pound asparagus
Parmesan cheese (optional)

In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, oregano, pepper, and salt. Place pork chops in zip-top bag, then pour all but a couple tablespoons of marinade over chops. Reserve the rest. Seal the bag and squish around to coat. Refrigerate for one to four hours.

When ready to cook, preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Combine the potatoes and vegetables in the reserved marinade. Add the potatoes to a lightly oil-sprayed sheet pan. You can line the pan with foil but I’m working on developing a lovely patina on mine. I think I did the trick with that part this time around. 🙂

Place potatoes in oven and bake for 20 minutes. Remove pan and add the pork chops and vegetables then return to oven. Cook for another 25 minutes, or until pork registers 140 degrees in the thickest part of a chop. Bump the oven to broil. Since I have a bottom broiler, I have to remove the pan so at this point I decided to grate some Parmesan cheese over everything, but that’s optional. Broil for a few minutes, remove from oven and serve!

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Now for an update on my cart. With summer and tourists now in Bend, business is doing great at my little cart, yay! I also added a Saturday Farmer’s Market to my venue, which is doing outstanding. The first Saturday I sold out about 45 minutes before the market ended. This past Saturday, I cooked a bunch more meats and had enough, whew!

Northwest Crossing Farmer’s Market

Here I am at the very tail end of the market, serving my last customer. Pay no mind to my messy salsa bar at that point!

And looky, I got Instagrammed! I prep my salsa/condiment bar fresh each morning, and customers certainly love that it seems. Thank you bendfoodie, whoever you are!

Fresh Salsa Bar!

Oh, and here’s the handy-dandy printable for my recipe:

 

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Austin Street Tacos is Up and Running!

Me working the cart with my daughter and her boyfriend who stopped by for lunch one day!

Howdy y’all! I thought it was high time to give you an update on my new food cart venture. I officially opened on Saturday, May 24th, just in time for the busy holiday weekend. The cart was open for lunch every day straight through Tuesday, and in between all that managed to have a lovely evening out with my parents visiting from Texas for my daughter’s 18th birthday.

I also managed not to have a complete melt-down when I accidentally dropped an entire 5-tray condiment bar upside down inside the cart, a mere 15 minutes before opening on my very first day.

In case you are wondering about the brace you see on me, after weeks of back pain and x-rays and an MRI, it was discovered I not only had one, but two fractures in my back! All from a sneezing/coughing allergy fit I had one day. Don’t ask me how, but I still managed to get open by the day I wanted to.

Oh, and here’s the almost final logo design and colors. I still have a few tweaks on it. I don’t have a high-rez copy of it either, but you get the gist. I sure stand out in the crowd! T-shirts and caps with the logo are coming soon, too.

Austin Street Tacos logo

I’m closed on Wednesday’s due to a long-standing Farmer’s Market in my location, for which there were no spaces left for me by the time I opened, but it’s a welcome mid-week break.

I also was able to work my first First Friday Art Walk, which is a huge evening event in my town each month and had a wonderfully successful night. I sold out of my bean and cheese tacos that night (perhaps the $2 price tag on those helped?) and went home at 10 pm, exhausted and exhilarated. I keep forgetting to ask someone to snap a photo when the cart gets busy, but it’s kind of hard to remember when you are in the thick of things. Some day I’ll remember!

I still plan on posting new recipes in the future, once I get the hang of the day-to-day running of the cart and prepping the food for it. Some days it’s by the seat of my pants when things go awry!

A huge thanks to all for still hanging with my while I got my new business up and running. You are all still an inspiration to me!

(Here’s a photo of my mom from Texas helping out in the cart one day just before we opened.)

My Texas mom helping out in the cart

 

Carnitas Cubano and Logo Reveal!

Carnitas Cubano

With an over-glut of carnitas on hand from recipe testing, I settled on whipping up some Cubano sammies, carnitas-style! No recipe really needed for this. Slather both sides of of two slices of bread with butter (I used Seattle Sourdough) and skillet grill one side of each. Spread mustard on grilled side, then layer carnitas or any other cooked pork, sliced ham, dill pickle slices, and Swiss cheese. Add the other grilled side face down on top, then press and grill until browned, using either a panini-style press or another heavy skillet on top. Oh my, decadent and finger-licking good!

And…

Here is the logo for my new taco food cart!

Austin Street Tacos Logo

I’m still deciding on colors and what-not, but my temporary white sign really pops on the cart. One more inspection and permit to go, then I’m in business!

Easy Chicken Gratin and a Partial Reveal

Chicken Gratin

As much as I love tacos, truth be told we cannot simply eat tacos every night of the week. Therefore I’m still cooking other things and taking a photo here and again. Due to the time I’m committing to my new venture now, I’m limiting my recipe photos to one or two.

I saw this lovely dish on Food52 website and knew it would be a meal I’d be making soon. It’s very simple and cooks up in one dish! My kind of dinner. If you use the amount of chicken called for the chicken can nestle further into the gratin sauce, but my lonely piece wasn’t so fortunate. However, my husband was duly impressed with the curdled lemon cheese sauce (it’s supposed to be that way!) and it was truly an elegant meal.  I served the chicken over buttered rice and peas. Delicious!

Here is a link to the recipe —> Richard Olney’s Chicken Gratin (which is printable over there if you are so inclined).

Of course, you’ll need to adapt depending on the amount of chicken you are cooking.

NOW, drumroll please…

My new food cart name is…

 

 

This is not the full logo, as I sent it back for some tweaking. But I couldn’t resist sharing! I also wanted to give a HUGE thank  you to all my friends and readers for your overwhelming support for my new career. It means the world to me. xoxo