Pork Chops with Fig and Apricot Jam

This is a dish that I've cooked lots of times over the years, and each time it's a little different, depending on what ingredients I have on hand.  The other night I used a "Fig Pizzazz" fruit spread from Mountain Fruit Company.  However, on other occasions I've used apricot jam, orange marmalade, or fig compote.  In addition, I decided to use red wine to deglaze the pan this time, but I could have just as easily used white, and have opted for that when using apricot or orange jams.  You could even use orange juice instead of the wine if you're using orange marmalade.   Finally, to be sure not to overcook the chops (especially if they're thin), leave them a little undercooked when you remove them from the pan.  They'll cook more once you return to the sauce in the pan.  

This is the yummy, yummy stuff I used. 

Pork Chops with Fig and Apricot Jam
serves 4

4 boneless pork chops, about 1/4-1/2 inch thick

2 tablespoons olive oil

kosher salt 

fresh ground black pepper

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 cup red wine

1 cup chicken broth

pinch of dried thyme

1 cup of Fig Pizzazz fruit spread

1. Season pork chops on both sides with salt and pepper

2.  Heat a large heavy skillet over medium high heat.  Add the olive oil and swirl to coat pan. 

3.  Sear the pork chops on each side until just golden brown, turning only once.  Remove them to a platter and keep warm.

4. Reduce heat, add onions and saute for about 2 minutes, then add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute.

5.  Pour the wine into the pan to deglaze and scrape up browned bits.  Cook one minute, then add chicken broth, thyme, and jam.  Cook over medium heat until sauce thickens.  

6. Then return chops to the pan to warm and cover in sauce.  Serve chops with sauce spooned over top

Chicken Enchiladas with Salsa Verde

This is an old recipe of my own that I've tweaked and re-tweaked over the years.  I love it because it's flexible -- you can use chicken or ground turkey or pork or beef -- and you can "hide" healthy bits like chopped kale, spinach, or chard.  For the salsa verde, you can certainly use store-bought salsa instead.  I've done that in the past when I can't find good-looking tomatillos.  However, I really do love the taste of the homemade stuff, especially since I like to have control over the amount of garlic and heat that goes into the salsa.  

It's a great dish for company; I find that both adults and kiddos like it (especially when served with sour cream).  It's also a good dish for delivering to friends.  It just needs about 20-25 minutes in a 350 degree oven to warm it all up and melt the cheese.  

Salsa Verde
makes enough for 8 enchiladas


8 tomatillos, husked and cleaned

3 chopped scallions, whites only

1/4 cup of diced chiles or 2-3 fresh green chiles

1 clove garlic

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Juice of 1 lime

Salt

1. Quarter tomatillos and place in medium saucepan with scallions, chiles and garlic.  Let mixture boil, then simmer until tomatillos are soft, about 20 minutes.

2. Remove tomatillos from heat, put in blender or food processor with cilantro and lime.  Blend and add salt to taste.

3.  Adjust amounts of cilantro, lime, and chiles according to taste.  


Chicken Enchiladas
makes about 8 enchiladas

2-3 tablespoons canola oil

1 onion, chopped

2-3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced

2 cups of shredded Jack cheese

8 tortillas (I use flour, but you can use corn too) 
1/2 cup finely chopped greens like kale, spinach, chard (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350°

2. Heat 1 tbs of canola oil in saute pan over high heat.  Add onion when oil is almost smoking.  Cook onions until soft.  Add greens, if using.  Add chicken and cook until just past pink.

3. Heat 1 scant tablespoon of oil in a saute pan large enough to allow a tortilla to lay flat.  When oil is hot, add one tortilla to pan just long enough to soften (make sure to flip it to get both sides exposed to pan).  Remove tortilla, let drippings fall back into pan, set aside in plate, and continue with remaining tortillas.   You may need to add more oil.

4. Spread a thin layer of salsa verde over the bottom of a baking dish.

5. Ladle 1-2 tablespoons of chicken into tortilla (depending on the size of your tortilla), add cheese, and fold and roll into enchilada.   Place seam-side down in baking dish.  Continue with remaining tortillas until dish is filled with a single layer of enchiladas.

6.  Cover tops of enchiladas with salsa verde, sprinkle with remaining cheese (about 1 cup), and bake in oven for about 20 minutes or until cheese is just starting to brown.

7. Serve with leftover salsa verde, and sour cream.  

Crispy Pan-Fried Pork Chops

I went back to my rediscovered favorite source, Cook's Illustrated last night, and made pork chops with a crispy coating (recipe follows).  Made with buttermilk and corn flakes, the coating was really tasty.  I am wondering if I can use it for chicken as well -- I don't see why not.  It's something I'll have to test out.  


I think that next time I'll have to use thinner pork chops, though.  The cooking time listed in the recipe wasn't enough for me to get the pork cooked through, and I like my pork pink.  The recipe calls for chops 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick.  I am not a great judge of that kind of thing -- in retrospect, I'll bet my chops were closer to 3/4 to 1 inch thick.  In addition, the recipe calls for 8 chops.  Four of them were plenty for us, but of course mine were Flintstone-sized, so maybe 8 would have sufficed had they been thinner.  :)  In order to get the middle of the chops cooked without overdoing the crispy coating, I finished the pork in the oven for about 5 minutes.  It was already hot from the potatoes I roasted, so I would guess it was somewhere around 300 degrees. 

The recipe calls for serving the pork chops with lemon.  This definitely added to the flavor; however next time I'll cut up two lemons instead of just one.  

I served it with roasted potatoes and green beans.  The potatoes were simply salt, rosemary, and a little garlic powder.  This time I tried a slightly different technique with the potatoes:  I covered them with foil for about 20 mins (oven at 425), then removed foil, turned them all over to expose brown, crispy side, and finished them for another 10 mins or so.  I didn't add the rosemary until about 2-3 minutes before removing them from the oven.  I liked this -- the potatoes were crispier than normal, and the rosemary didn't burn.

As for the green beans, I just blanched them ahead of time, and served them room temperature with a little dressing that I made with oil, lemon/thyme vinegar, dijon mustard, salt and pepper.  I still need to get to the store to buy shallots; a little bit of shallot would have been a nice flavor to add to the dressing.  

Crispy Pan-Fried Pork Chops
from Cook's Illustrated
Serves 4

2/3 cup cornstarch
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 medium garlic clove, minced
3 cups cornflakes
Salt and ground black pepper
8 center-cut boneless pork chops (3 to 4 ounces each), 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick
2/3 cup vegetable oil
Lemon wedges 

1. 1. Place 1/3 cup cornstarch in shallow dish or pie plate. In second shallow dish, whisk buttermilk, mustard, and garlic until combined. Process cornflakes, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, and remaining 1/3 cup cornstarch in food processor until cornflakes are finely ground, about 10 seconds. Transfer cornflake mixture to third shallow dish.
   
   
   
   2. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 200 degrees. With sharp knife, cut 1/16-inch-deep slits on both sides of chops, spaced ½ inch apart, in crosshatch pattern. Season chops liberally with salt and pepper. Dredge 1 chop in cornstarch; shake off excess. Using tongs, coat with buttermilk mixture; let excess drip off. Coat with cornflake mixture; gently pat off excess. Transfer coated chop to wire rack set in rimmed baking sheet and repeat with remaining chops. Let coated chops stand 10 minutes.
   
   
   
   3. Heat 1/3 cup oil in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Place 4 chops in skillet and cook until golden brown and crispy, 2 to 5 minutes. Carefully flip chops and continue to cook until second side is golden brown, crispy, and center of chop registers 140 degrees on instant-read thermometer, 2 to 5 minutes longer. Transfer chops to paper towel-lined plate and let drain 30 seconds on each side. Transfer to clean wire rack set over rimmed baking sheet, then transfer to oven to keep warm. Discard oil in skillet and wipe clean with paper towels. Repeat process with remaining oil and pork chops. Serve with lemon wedges.

Chicken Breasts with Tomatoes, Kalamata, and Feta

Last night I tried a new recipe from Cook's Illustrated.  I was looking to add a new chicken breast recipe to my rotation, but wasn't interested in one that would take forever to prepare.  We all really liked it, and it was so easy to make.   The recipe follows below. 

I served it with couscous and buttered peas.  The nice and unexpected part of this particular meal, was that you could mix together the sauce from the chicken with the couscous and the peas, and the flavors together were even better.

Here's what I did with the couscous.  I like to use shallots with my couscous, but somehow I managed to be out of them.  So, I used scallions instead.  I often treat couscous like a kitchen sink -- I just toss in whatever I've got handy.

2tbs butter
2 cups couscous
2 cups chicken broth
2 tbs chopped scallions
zest plus juice of one lemon
2 tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup pine nuts

Melted the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  Once it stops bubbling, add couscous and toast until it just starts to brown (less than 5 minutes).  

Add broth to couscous, give it a good stir, cover, and remove from heat.  Let stand for about 5-7 minutes then fluff with fork. 

Add scallions, lemon zest and lemon juice.  Add enough olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper.  Add pine nuts, toss, and serve.  It just occurred to me that I should have added some chopped parsely to finish the dish.  Definitely next time.  

Sauteed Chicken with Cherry Tomatoes, Olives, Feta, and Mint

from Cook's Illustrated

Serves 4

• 1/2cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 4boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 5 to 6 ounces each), tenderloins removed and breasts trimmed of any yellow or white fat
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 4tablespoons olive oil, plus 2 more teaspoons (if needed)
• 2medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 2 teaspoons)
• 1pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved (see illustration below)
• 1 - 2tablespoons water (if needed)
• 2ounces feta cheese, crumbled (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/4cup thinly sliced fresh mint leaves
• 
  

1. 1. Place the flour in a shallow dish. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Working with 1 chicken breast at a time, dredge in the flour, shaking off the excess.
2. 2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add the chicken and cook until well browned on one side, 6 to 8 minutes.
3. 3. Flip the chicken over, reduce the heat to medium-low, and continue to cook until the thickest part of the breast registers 160 to 165 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 6 to 8 minutes longer. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter, tent loosely with foil, and let rest while making the sauce.
4. 4. Add 2 more teaspoons of the oil (if needed) and the garlic to the skillet and cook over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the tomatoes and olives, scraping up any browned bits. (If necessary, add enough of the water to help loosen the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.) Cook until the tomatoes are just softened, about 2 minutes. Stir in any accumulated chicken juices and season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. 5. Off the heat, stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and pour the tomatoes over the chicken. Sprinkle with the feta and mint. Serve.