fruit salad portk chops

We had to adapt this recipe to fit what we actually had in the house, but it turned out better than if we had all the right ingredients in the first place. The seasoning is one of the best matches for pork chops I've found.

For the fruit sauce:
1 teaspoon olive oil
French sea salt
1-2 cups peaches, raspberries and dried cranberries
1/3 cup ruby port
1 teaspoon pomegranate balsamic vinegar

For the pork chops:
3 (1-inch-thick) bone-in pork loin chops
1 1/4 teaspoons french sea salt
1 teaspoon coriander
3/4 teaspoon mustard seeds, lightly crushed
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil

Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees to pre-heat cast iron pans. Crush coriander, mustard seeds, salt and pepper in a mortar and pestle. Rub all of the spice mixture and olive oil all over the pork chops.

Add the chops to the cast iron pan and cook, undisturbed, until golden brown, about 3 and 1/2 minutes on each side. Place the pan in the oven. Bake for 2 and 1/2 minutes.

Let them rest 5 to 7 minutes.

In the cast iron pan used for the pork chops, stir in the peaches, raspberries and dried cranberries, port, and vinegar and cook until the fruit begins to soften and the port has reduced by half, about 7-10 minutes. When the sauce is finished, remove it from the heat and set it aside.

Spoon the reserved sauce over top of the pork chops and serve.

The above picture also includes a latke-style vegetable pancake made with multi-colored carrots and topped with beet yogurt.

Adapted from Chow.com

spring pork chops...anytime

Fresh peaches this spring have been delicious, so they haven't been lasting long enough around our house to make it into an actual dish before being picked up and just eaten as is. This is a great dish because it uses frozen peaches, which you can get any time of the year. The flavors in this dish come together beautifully, sweet and savory all at once. We served it with roasted asparagus and fried plantains.

3-4 (1-inch-thick) pork chops
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots
1-2 teaspoons finely chopped thyme
1/4 cup brandy
1 (10-ounce) bag frozen peaches, thawed
1/3 cup peach preserves

Sprinkle pork chops on both sides with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper (total) and coat lightly with olive oil.

Heat 12-inch cast iron skillet in oven for 10 minutes at 500 degrees, bring pan back to the stove top and cook pork chops over high heat, turning once, until browned, 3 minutes on each side. Return pan with pork chops to 350 degree oven for 6 minutes, until cooked through. Transfer to a platter and keep warm, loosely covered with foil.

Return skillet to stove top. Heat butter in skillet over medium heat until foam subsides, then cook shallots with thyme, stirring occasionally, until tender and golden-brown, about 5 minutes.

Add 1/4 cup brandy to skillet, then cook over medium heat, scraping bottom of skillet to loosen brown bits. Add peaches, preserves, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper and any meat juices from platter. Nestle pork chops in the sauce and cook, until peaches are tender and juicy, about 3 minutes. Plate pork chops and spoon sauce over chops.

Adapted from epicurious.com

less than smooth smoothie

Smoothies are meant to be an easy thing to throw together, but I always find I never quite make them right. But I finally figured it out and wanted to capture it for all posterity.

All Fruit Smoothie

1 banana
1 peach
10-12 raspberries
1 cup blueberries
1 cup half and half (or more depending on how thick you want it)
1 tbsp honey

Blend everything together. Drink!

ricotta dessert-fest

We haven't tried any of these but we love all of the ingredients so we can't see how they won't be good. They're definitely on the list to be done soon, but since we were driving away from the grocery store when we came up with the recipes, we don't have all the ingredients at hand just yet.

Chocolate Pallina

ricotta
honey
banana (optional)
70% (Guanaja) Valrhona chocolate feves

In a bowl, mix the ricotta with honey and (optionally) mashed banana until thoroughly combined. Wet hands. Take a tablespoon of the mixture and roll it in your hands like a meatball. Freeze the ricotta balls at least an hour. Melt the chocolate slowly over low heat. Do not bring to a boil. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Using a spoon, quickly dip each ball into the chocolate and place on wax paper. (Alternately, spread a thin coating of chocolate on the wax paper, place all of the ricotta balls on the chocolate layer and then drizzle chocolate over the balls to coat.) Refrigerate or freeze until the chocolate hardens.


Bocca Sesso con Pesche

ricotta
honey
fresh peaches
butter
70% (Guanaja) Valrhona chocolate feves

Melt butter in a frying pan. Heat sliced peaches in the butter until slightly softened and warmed through. Melt the chocolate slowly over low heat. Do not bring to a boil. Divide peaches into dessert bowls. Add a scoop of ricotta. Drizzle with honey. Drizzle with melted chocolate. Serve. Die of the deliciousness.