Italian Pork Chops with Gnocchi and Broccoli

Well the Mother-in-law has gone and we have the house back to ourselves, just the three of us.  We escorted her off the premises and took her to the train station so that she could say a teary goodbye to Z and R.  Having visitors is very much like going on holiday, the usual routines are knocked out and by the time you get home there is nothing to eat.  All that we had in the house was a head of broccoli so I was dispatched to the shops to stock up.

All weekend I had been hankering for a lump of pork, simply seasoned and grilled, so when I found pork loin steaks on offer at the supermarket I knew what we were having for tea.  Back home I rubbed the pork in garlic, oregano, salt, pepper and olive oil and put them into the fridge to marinate.  There was one further consideration for the evening meal, the 2012 Euro final between Spain and Italy.  Kick off was at 7:45pm, R has his bath at 7pm.  It would be touch and go if we could get the meal out in time for the start of the match.

I put the grill on as the bath was running, filled a pan with water and chopped the broccoli so that everything would be ready to cook the second R was in bed.  By the time the chops had been turned once under the grill the water for the gnocchi and broccoli had come up to the boil.  I was originally going to fry the gnocchi and steam the broccoli, but this would have been more time consuming and would have made more washing up so they both ended up in the same pan.  Once cooked I drained the gnocchi and broccoli and tossed the two in warm olive oil seasoned with anchovies and dried chilli flakes.

By the time I had served the meal the match was two minutes old.  I'd missed the anthems and the kick-off, but I managed to watch the rest of the match uninterrupted with one of the tastiest and quickest meals I have cooked in a long time.  Spain may have won the European Championship but Italy won meal of the weekend!