For Christmas, Jason gave me an envelope full of coupons.  I redeemed one last week, which gave me a full week of no cooking duty.  As in none.  As in, he got up and made the kids breakfast and packed the lunch boxes, too.  Nice.

Well, the week is up, so I’m back in the kitchen again.  I did not feel like cooking at all tonight, but once I told myself to get over it, I felt a sudden burst of creativity.  I’ve never made anything quite like this before, and the whole family loves it.  It seems really complicated now that I go to write it out, but I promise it was easy and super fast to put together.

(I apologize for the lack of proper recipe formatting here.  I find it easier just to write out the process, plus I’m not so good at measuring the ingredients.  Maybe I’ll come back later and break it up into an ingredients list and directions.)

Set a pot of water to boil for pasta, and preheat oven to 400* F.

In a large, oven-proof skillet, heat some olive oil, a minced clove of garlic, 1/4 of an onion (sliced thickly), and a couple of pinches of sea salt.

Prepare the pork chops by sprinkling one side with black pepper.  When the onions have started to soften just a bit, move them to the outer edges of the skillet and put the chops in, pepper side down, pressing lightly on each one for a couple of seconds.  After about thirty seconds, flip them over.

Add 8 oz. of sliced mushrooms on top of the onion, and drizzle them with a little bit of olive oil.  Drizzle everything in the skillet lightly with honey and follow with a liberal shaking of Worcestershire sauce.*  (If your sinuses are blocked, this would be a great time to take a great, deep breath of the steam rising from the dish.  There!  Doesn’t that feel better?)  The oven should be ready about now, so when it’s fully preheated, place the whole pan in and bake for 15 minutes.

The water should be boiling now, too, so put the pasta in.  I used half a box of whole grain thin spaghetti, but any long, loopy noodle will be good.  Once it’s done cooking, drain it and drizzle in a little olive oil, a tiny bit of salt, and a large pinch or two each of oregano and tarragon.

Serve the noodles on the plate, topped with a pork chop.  The mushroom and onion mixture can be served over top, or on the side.  Stick a fork in it, and call it yum.

Now, for the really hard part.  What do we call this?  I suggested, “Yummy,” but Kalen said, “No, Mom.  It has to have a food name.”

Any suggestions?

*I realize that “liberal shaking” could mean practically anything.  I didn’t really use all that much, I don’t think, but the little stopper-spout thingy in the bottle doesn’t let it come out too fast.