Today’s post is brought to you by the POWER OF IMAGINATION.
Mostly, that’s because I started making this awesome dinner – maple-glazed pork with hominy, roasted butternut and goat cheese – before I realized that all my camera batteries were completely dead. You’ll just have to visualize.
PICTURE OF ROASTED SQUASH CHUNKS GOES HERE
Meaning that there’s no actual proof that I DID, in fact, produce this meal. If a meal is prepared and consumed but there was no food blogger to document it, was it really eaten? We may never know. Maybe Brian will show up in the comments and corroborate.
PICTURE OF HOMINY IN THE FOPRO GOES HERE
Luckily, I have both an extra knob of goat cheese, an extra butternut squash and two extra pork chops, so there can be a not-so-instant replay as soon as I obtain more hominy. So I won’t bother to tell you all about it now, because then I’d be robbing myself of a post in the future. Just know this: you can take a can of hominy, chuck it in the FoPro, heat the ground-up hominy with a vegetable puree and some cheese, and you have a hell of a side dish.
PICTURE OF GOAT CHEESE KNOB SITTING IN POOL OF HOMINY GOES HERE
Options include:
– Hominy, roasted butternut squash, goat cheese
– Hominy, roasted yellow pepper, monterey jack
– Hominy, roasted red pepper, provolone
The first two are tested and vouched for. The third just seems like a good idea. Others? Hit me!
PICTURE OF FINISHED DISH GOES HERE. OOH, AAH!
In other news, I am congenitally incapable of not watching Top Chef. My only reaction to last night’s show: IT DOES NOT TAKE 40 MINUTES TO COOK RISOTTO. I’m sorry you think it does, but do NOT blame my people for your misconception. If you would SHUT THE HELL UP AND STIR, you’d be done in 18 minutes like the rest of us and you would have gotten your shit on the plate. Also, that woman who was the last to get in? She gives me a bad Leah2.0 vibe. Or maybe whatsher name from DC, Amanda? Do not like.
Damn you, Magical Elves.
PS: I have to be at a fancy-pants event for work tonight, so no Smackdown. In the meantime, I welcome your cookbook suggestions in the comments, as I need a new book to light a fire under my ass.
Thursday Night Smackdown 
You knew I’d chime in to say I love the title of your post, right?
Good to know you still got sucked in to Top Chef! (I don’t know why that’s good, but whatever. Miss the liveblogging, though.)
That dinner sounds delicious. I am at least going to be making one of the hominy variations soon.
You know, I agree with you on the risotto. I always hear on pretty much any cooking show (especially a competition one) how difficult and time and labor intensive risotto is and I always get so very confused. It is my go to dish for “I don’t want to expend real effort” cooking because, well, it’s just stirring. I’ve also had several guests get really impressed with the fact I’m serving it because they’ve all heard it’s so hard. I don’t disabuse them of this idea, because it means they think I’m fancy, but yeah I have no idea where this “risotto is hard” myth came from.
I have a selfish suggestion! I was thinking of getting my mom this book for Christmas: http://tinyurl.com/74pqz5b (Recipe for Murder: Frightfully Good Food Inspired by Fiction). Maybe you could see what it is like for me! :o)
You asked for suggestions! Hominy, roasted green chiles, queso fresco?
Also, cookbooks… Hmmm. How about “Simply French” by Patricia Wells with Joel Robuchon? I love it, but I avoid many of the recipes because they scare me with many many details. Maybe you could take it on for me? 🙂
Ok, I hope you will be live blogging Top Chef again. Reading your posts make it that much better.
Speaking of Top Chef, have you thought about VoltInk by the Voltaggio Bros? It’s half price on Amazon right now. Or you could try Twenty by Ruhlman.
yay, you’re caving and watching Top Chef! Now I don’t have to feel so guilty about watching!
And the last chick in? Yeah, shades of annoying whats-her-face that they are obligated to have every time.
Have you looked at “Cooking in the Crescent City” by Susan Spicer? Chef/Owner of 2 NOLA restaurants. Not too complicated, easily located ingredients and excellent recipes!
@elaine, i think i’ve done 4 or 5 smackdowns from that book – i love it. just gave it to someone as a gift, too.
Ohh, bummer about your camera, nice one on persevering though. I think I tweeted you with a couple of cookbooks that I love – I stand by those two still!
My mother makes hominy with green chiles and cheddar. It is very good.
The latest cookbook I added to my wishlist is the new Jacques Pepin book.