Quickie

Thinking my parents were away for the day, I got out of bed at 11AM for some water — and there in the kitchen was my father.

“Back already?”

“Oh,” he said, “we never left.” In that case, why did no one think to tell me? I promptly went into panic mode. Good thing I had marinated pork chops defrosting in the refrigerator. Then I grabbed a handful of eggplants from the crisper, poked them here and there with a fork, and popped the whole lot into the turbo broiler.

Meanwhile I pressed the pork chops in between paper towels to dry, then set about chopping the salad ingredients: ginger, tomato, red and spring onions. Hmmm. Something was missing here. Then it came to me: coconut cream! “Manang!”

These people. How hard could it have been for a quick “Oh, by the way, we canceled our trip”? Like I said, it was fateful I had something on standby — for dinner, actually. What if I hadn’t? Then it would have been a lightning trip to the market, and who knows what I was going to find there. It’s that time of the month again when the moon wreaks havoc on our marine food supply. Two days ago I brought home some saminán and Pa was not happy about that. He’s picky about fish (among many others), and while trevally’s not on his shit list, it’s definitely not on the most favored, either. What was I to do? Among the fish on display that afternoon, it was the only one that he would at least consider eating.

But I digress. Time was of the essence so I got my cast-iron skillet cracklin’ hot. A little oil, then the pork chops. The combination of intense heat, thick chops (¾ of an inch), and reduced surface moisture enabled them to brown quickly, about 4 to 5 minutes for each side. It was enough time to peel the eggplants (for reference, they were roasted for 12 to 15 minutes, then left to steam on their own inside the still-covered turbo to loosen their skins, about 10 minutes), and for the help to press the grated coconut with ½ cup cane vinegar (to season, some salt). Spices on top of eggplant, drenched in rich, tangy cream. If you haven’t tried coconut cream in ensaladang talong, you are definitely missing out on one of the best things in life.

And that’s it. Once out of the pan, the chops rested for 5 minutes, allowing me to snap a few quick pictures. Notice the kitchen sink beneath the plate? I was in quite a hurry.

When my mother sat down to lunch, she proclaimed the chops unsightly. “But good,” she added after a bite. “And juicy. Maybe I’ll have some rice — just a little.” That more than made up for my suddenly frenetic morning. I’m too easy.