I cooked dinner last night, hurray! It got chilly quite suddenly here in Cambridge, and I was feeling very autumnal. I strolled through Whole Foods after sending Tom off, and ended up with a pair of lovely boneless pork chops. In the back of my mind, creeping quietly closer to the front as I contemplated the meat case, were the apples and baby brussels sprouts that I’d bought at a local farm last weekend, languishing in the fridge after we abruptly went kitchenless.

I knew I wanted to cook the pork and apples together, but a conversation with my mom convinced me to cook them in the dutch over, in part to skip the extra step of browning in one pan (and washing it) and cooking in another.

[A side note: I apologize for how wretched these photos are. The current lighting situation is grim, at best, and there simply wasn’t much I could do. Suggestions for a good lighting scheme for the kitchen are welcome!]

I peeled the apples and cut them into thick slices, marveling at the lovely star pattern the cross-cut core makes. As a kid I always thought that was the coolest thing. (I didn’t get out much.)

Cored the apple slices, diced a small onion, then patted the chops dry, seasoned them and dredged them in flour. I browned them in the dutch oven while I finished up the onion.

The temperamental stove got a little excited towards the end, and the nice browned bits scorched. I let the pot cool enough to wipe it out a bit, then melted some butter, cooked the onions until they were soft, and added in the apples. After stirring them (well, nudging them) around a bit, I added about a third of a cup of sherry and let it simmer for a minute.

I added a dash of white vinegar for some bite (cider vinegar would be better but I’m all out and my brain was turned off, so I didn’t grab the sherry vinegar!) and about a cup of chicken stock. I simmered that for another minute or so, then put the pork chops in and tucked them in snugly under the apples.

I covered everything tightly and cooked on low for about 15 minutes, turning the chops once.

Meanwhile I’d cleaned the baby brussels sprouts (so wee!), trimmed them and cut them in half. I sautéed them in olive oil with lots of salt and pepper, cut side down until they were well browned, and then tossed around a bit so their backsides could brown a bit.

Overall, a big success. The pork wasn’t overcooked, but it was a bit tough–next time I’m going to make sure I don’t brown it for too long. The tang of the sherry and vinegar with the apples, alongside the pork, was delicious. I love those. I want to try making a kind of applesauce along the same lines to serve on the side another time, or with ham. Oh, and I always love brussels sprouts. I’m so happy their season has returned!

In kitchen news, I gave the counters their first coat of Danish Oil tonight, and tomorrow the fridge and dishwasher come!!

We had our lovely neighbors up for dinner a couple weeks ago–they were kind enough to invite us over soon after we moved in, and we hadn’t managed to repay the favor until months later. The Times had just published the recipe for Brown Buttered Corn that scooted around the blogosphere shortly thereafter, and I decided to be brave and cook fish for a change.

To start we had some fun heirloom tomatoes with a drizzle of vinaigrette and a few little dices of feta. I know it’s fall now, but at the time it was still late summer and I was reveling in those last few weeks where cooking is mostly a matter of buying gorgeous produce and slicing it up.

I made the corn a little earlier in the day, and made the sauce variation by pureeing some of the corn with broth and garlic and then stirring in the rest. It was a bit too thick and creamy–next time I’d puree about a third of the corn, if that, with a bit more broth. I didn’t feel like you could tell it was corn; I wanted kernels barely bound together by a loose sauce.

I bought some beautiful fresh grey sole fillets, rubbed them with the compound butter from the corn sauce recipe, and broiled them (for only about 5 minutes, I think). Very delicate and light–even Ben, who generally does not like fish, really liked them. Of course, the fish was totally muffled by the (too-thick) sauce, so…

(I had two fillets per person; each one is so thin that it weighs about 4 ounces!)

See, you can’t even see the fish under there! (That’s a very simple israeli cous cous as a side, with just some lemon juice, butter and herbs.)

For dessert I made a peach crisp, using a half-recipe from Fanny at Chez Panisse. I had made it when my aunt and cousin came over and it was great. This time something had gone funny with the vanilla ice cream, so instead of tasting peaches I tasted that alcoholic vanilla extract flavor. Sad!

Still, despite some disappointments, there were a bunch of things to do again. I am feeling much better about cooking fish, especially.

While I was in Oregon my mom and I went out for a great dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Eugene, Marché. We shared a bunch of appetizers, including one of the fantastic wood-oven pizzas, topped with tomatoes, corn and bacon. The sweet corn, tangy/sweet tomatoes and smoky bacon (and crust) were perfect together, so when I got back I decided to recreate it, using dough that I bought from Whole Foods so that it could be super-fast comfort food.

I had Sungolds that I’d brought back from Oregon, and I cut a nice fat heirloom tomato into very thin slices. I microwaved an ear of corn for a minute or two to cook it partway, then cut the kernels off the cob.

I hadn’t gotten very clear directions about the dough–the guy had said to let it rise, but it didn’t seem to want to, despite the room being quite warm. It was very bouncy, resilient dough. I did eventually force it (mangled) into a relatively flat oval. I topped it with fontina and the toppings, including chopped pancetta that I had already cooked until it was nice and crispy.

One nice thing about our old, old stove is that the gas oven goes to 600. I cooked the pizza fast, and then we enjoyed it with salad. The sungolds were especially nice, since they were little pockets of sweet-tart juice, basically. And I loved the corn, which just tastes like summer, doesn’t it? The pancetta is crucial–you need the savory flavor to balance the sweet tomatoes and corn. Next time maybe I’d use some sharper cheese?