What I’ve been doing at the workplace

My workplace is just about anywhere I go. You’d say my life must be hard, but fortunately, it isn’t. Most of the time, my workplace is also the place where I unwind, where I have a good time, I enjoy good company, food, new ideas, a glass of good wine or a beer (beer just every now and then, given the waistline reasons). Two nights ago, for examples, I was in a place I will tell you about with all the details in another day. Today I will simply tell you about the food that I made at that workplace which is also a fun place to me and only a fun place to others. Vegetables. Lots of them. Red onions, green onions, leeks, tomatoes, garlic, courgettes, young carrots, scallions, pumpkin. Washed/cleaned (where cleaning was required), splashed with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, sprinkled with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper, put into the oven for over an hour, at 160 degrees Celsius.

Have I scared you with the vegetables? Let me tell you about the meat: bone-in chops with skin and a bit of fat. Between the bone and the meat I made a tunnel (with the knife) which I filled with a paste made from parsley, sage, rosemary (leaves), coriander, anise, cumin, peppercorn, all smashed in a mortar, with a bit of olive oil.

I made incisions on the skin (not too deep), I rubbed the meat with salt and pepper and I stuck some cloves in it. The cloves have a double role: on one hand, they give flavor, on the other hand they favor digestion, which helps especially if you have pork in your diet. I placed the meat in a tray, I poured two beers in it and covered it with aluminum foil. I put it in the preheated oven (at 250 degrees Celsius) which I then set at 160 degrees. After an hour, I removed the foil, after another hour I increased the temperature at 200 degrees to caramelize the skin, and after seven-eight minutes I took the meat out of the oven and let it rest for ten minutes.
The result was delicious.