Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Dan Dreams of Pork

Sunday, Noel and I went to see Jiro Dreams of Sushi at Landmark Theater in Kendall Square. Great movie!! I was glad we went and had sushi before the movie, if we had waited until after, we would have spent so much more money at Fuji Sushi Bar. Instead, after the movie, we ended up at the Friendly Toast. They have some awesome cocktails and good food, plus I know the GM. Noel got cheese fries and it came with a strawberry-habanero dipping sauce. When we left, I made sure to get the rest of the dipping sauce to go. There was a pork chop dinner in my future and it was going to be marinated in this sauce!!!!

I marinated the pork chops overnight, then baked them to 150F. They came out amazing!!! Every bite was a mouthful of spicy, strawberry pork!! This has been my most favorite pork chop I've ever cooked!! Since the sauce had some major heat I knew I should have some sides that would help cool down the palate. I had some bacon in the frig so I grabbed the book Seduced by Bacon. This book is 178 pages of bacon love. I found two recipes that I know would help make this meal epic! First I found a brussel sprout, bacon and shiitake mushroom stir fry. Stupid easy to make and just out of this world good!! Peel the leaves off six brussel sprouts, cut up cup of baby shiitake mushrooms and 1/3 pound of bacon chopped up. Cook the bacon until the fat covers the bottom, add the brussel sprouts, then mushroom, last 1/4 cup soy sauce. YUMMY!!!!!! When we went to Russo's this week we got roasted corn and ricotta ravioli. I found a sauce a few pages later, a carbonara sauce. I've made a few before and they are real easy and this one was the same but it was bacon rather than pancetta. This sauce really went incredibly well with the ravioli. Bacon and corn is a marriage made in heaven!! OH I DO SO LOVE BACON!!!!

The wine was easy. I bought a Chinon from Beacon Hill Wine & Spirits in Boston. Gene always has good stuff and I LOVE CHINON!!!! Cabernet Franc from the Lorie Valley.... YES PLEASE!! Les Galuches was a great bottle of wine. Awesome dusty green bell pepper, dark sour cherries and raspberries, with strong tannins. The wine sang different notes all night as it opened up. When I got my last glass, I was so upset that I had to finish the journey. Loire Valley is my favorite wine region in the world, and Chinon is my favorite region with in the Loire. I love Cabernet Franc and it is such and under-appreciated grape!! Here is your homework: go get yourself a bottle of Chinon. You don't have to spend a lot, ~$15. If you like the wine, go and try Cabernet Franc from other places- the Finger Lakes would be a nice start.