Tonight (well, technically, last night...) we had pork loin surprise. A couple of the guys scored a nice pork loin, and they planned to throw it in the oven, and roast it with some vegetables, until some sorry know-it-all pointed out that the oven did not work. So, since I opened my big mouth, I had to cook.
Stuck with a pork loin, with no oven, and no grill, I sliced it into one inch thick slices, and then browned them in a bit of olive oil. Afterwards, I added some more oil to the pan, then sauteed a small onion, along with some crushed garlic. Since there was no wine to be found in the place, I used a bit of ale to deglaze the pan, then I returned the pork to the pan, and added some finely diced tomatoes, as well as salt, paprika, turmeric, white peppercorns, thyme, and a bit of oregano. I let that simmer over low heat while I prepared some rice with garbanzos, like my grandma used to make.
To the prepare the rice, I added some olive oil to the pan, and then added the rice. I stirred that around until it started to change color, then added the soaked garbanzos, and then I added some salt, thinly sliced garlic, saffron threads - soaked in water, a bit of paprika, as well as a dash of turmeric, just because it was there, then I drowned it all with some more water, covered it, and let it simmer.
When it was done, I loaded the plates with rice, then placed a couple of pieces of pork over that, then poured the sauce over all of it. Everybody ate it all up, and didn't complain, but that should be translated as "if you complain, you get to cook next," and not as if my culinary skills are something special. We have our team rules for a reason, and I didn't have to was our dishes, either.
