Sweet Silky Caramel

Last weekend I came across a caramel recipe I just had to try.  I've always had a super super super sweet spot for these burnt sugars, plus a crack-like addiction to anything that gives me an excuse to use my candy thermometer.  I got it up to 246 degrees this time around.  I love watching how the boiling of the sugar changes the texture of the hot liquid.  One of these days I really want to do a YouTube clip of the various points on the candy spectrum and how they change the texture of the liquid as it passed through the various stages as well as what the ultimate candy looks like.  I at least would love to see something like that!

Anyway, the caramel came out exceptionally, with one minor headache.  The recipe called for parchment paper, but I tried to substitute wax paper.  This thinner paper is a very very very VERY bad idea.  I ended up losing a lot of my bits from having to cut of the bits of paper that didn't pull off right.

However, once done with trying to get the wax paper off the cooled caramel, everything worked out just fabulously!

 

Seared Pork with Orange Mustard Cream Sauce on a Bed of Greens

I haven't written many posts lately, partially because the weather makes it such a headache to go out to eat!  So, instead, I have been doing a lot of cooking in the house.  Tonight I tried my hands at a pork loin on a bed of turnip greens under a creamy orange sauce.  I'd seen the orange cream sauce recipe months ago and wanted to combine it with a pork dish, but just hadn't gotten around to it.  When the pork chops were so nice at the grocery store tonight (and sooooo thick!) I just couldn't resist!

Ideally, this would be served over mustard greens, but I used turnip greens tonight.  Either would be fine!