I feel like when it comes to savory cooking, I have a tendency to gravitate towards similar components – a seared protein, some sort of vegetable, some sort of starch, and a sauce. This would be no different to that. In fact, it would be 100% that. I wanted to do a lighter take on a stroganoff, which is where the mushroom sauce and egg noodles came from. But instead of beef, I went with pork – more so because the pork chop is such a hearty and rustic protein, and I just felt like that was more appropriate with something as homey and comforting as essentially noodles tossed in cream of mushroom soup with kale. This dish does represent the kind of food I usually cook for myself at home: rustic, homey, comforting, but showing some technique – making your own noodles, making your own sauce, and getting a nice sear on the pork chop, all things that can really make for a delicious plate of food, no matter how simple it is.

For the pork chop:
2 8-oz pork chops
1 tspn salt
1 tspn black pepper
canola oil

Season the sides of the pork with salt and pepper. Sear in a heated oven-proof pan that is lined with oil on medium-high heat on both sides for about 2 minutes, until the exterior is golden brown.

For the mushrooms:
6 oyster mushrooms, sliced into rods
a pinch of salt
a pinch of thyme
canola oil

Drizzle canola oil, salt, and thyme onto the mushrooms. Place into an oven-proof pan, preferably the same one you cooked the pork chop in. Place the seared pork chop on top of the mushrooms and bake at 400 degrees F for about 10 minutes. Remove the pork chop to rest it for 10 minutes before slicing it, and then remove the mushrooms as well. Heat up the pan again, add in a small amount of oil, then sear the mushrooms until golden brown.

For the mushroom sauce:
2 dried porcinis
1 tspn mushroom soy sauce
1/4 cup warm water
2 tbsp creme fraiche
Greens of your choice

In a pot, heat up the porcinis with the soy and water for at least 10 minutes. Pour the liquid into the pan that the mushrooms and pork were cooked in, and then reduce by about half. Finish by stirring in the creme fraiche, the mushroom pieces, and then adding in greens of your choice(spinach or kale is preferred!).

For the noodles:
2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg yolk
1 egg
a pinch of salt

Mix together to form your dough. Roll out to the 2nd-thinnest setting on a pasta roller then cut into thicker(about 1/8th inch) thick noodles. Boil in salted water for 45 seconds then finish in your sauce for another 10 seconds.