Pork chops with Poblano Creme Sauce

Eric was on the East end of town at Westridge picking up some pork chops. (Did you notice that I was not a vegetarian for very long?). I was on the West side near Farmer and the Cook.

Olivia has just put out the most beautiful selection of dried chilies and she is carrying anchovies.

She fed me the most Delicious tomato with some mozzarella and basil mixture in her kitchen. Tasting anything Olivia makes inspires one back into the kitchen. So, based on what I could get at FNC today, the menu tonight was this:

Pork chops with Poblano Creme Sauce
Steamed Green Beans with Lemon and Dillweed
Roasted Potatoes sliced Chip Style

I posted the green beans below.
You know how to roast potatoes.

Here is how I made the sauce for the Chops.

1. Boil some water and pour over 3 dried Poblano Chilies to hydrate. (Let sit 30 minutes)

2. Meanwhile, mince up a big shallot from Steve and Olivia's Farm.

3. Mince up a few anchovies.

4. Mince up some garlic.

5. When chilies are ready, remove seeds and veins and mince up. (Note: the poblanos were not as hot as I wanted them to be so I wish I had left the seeds in. Each chili is different, so experiment). Mix the garlic, anchovies, and chili into a paste.

6. Heat some olive oil in a pan and pan roast the peppered porkchops to brown on both sides. (I cover the pan to keep the splatter down and hurry up the cooking inside the meat). Remove chops to a plate.

7. Add shallots to the pan. Stir. Add chili paste to the pan and stir. I let it cook for about a minute. Add a little brandy or other choice cooking liqueur to deglaze the pan. Add some beef broth. Allow to simmer. I tasted it and it was not hot enough, so I added some red pepper flakes. Add some heavy whipping creme. Allow to reduce.

8. I put the chops back in for a little bit to steam in the creme sauce.

Then, to serve. I put the beans and the potatoes on a plate. Put the chop on top and spooned some of the sauce over.

Apple Chutney with Smoked Chipotle

I came home with porkchops and apples with a plan to make some applesauce.  But there was no butter, so I had to rethink it a little went for a spicy apple condiment to go with the chops.  I made this on the fly as I found ingredients, so if I spent some more time with it, I might change the order of events, but this is what I did and it turned out super yummy.

1. Peel and Core and chop your apples to desired size.  I squeezed some Meyer lemon on them as I went to help prevent browning. I think i had about 8 apples.  Pink Ladies.

2.  Mince about 2 inches of ginger.

3. In a heavy bottom pan, heat olive oil.  (This was the only fat I had.  Butter or ghee might have been better).  Add yellow mustard seed and then the ginger and then some turmeric (purely for the pretty yellow color).  Add the apples.  Mix well.

4. I allowed the apples to cook for like this as I wondered what I was going to do.  I found a few of Olivia's magic smoked chipotles.  I minced up 2 of them (removing the seeds) and added them to the apple mixture.  Then eventually I added some cider vinegar and sugar and allowed to cook over low heat, stirring often.  

5. The mixture probably cooked for about 20 minutes in total while I made the Cesear salad and prepped the pork.  When it seemed done enough, I transferred it to a bowl and covered it with foil to keep it warm.  Before serving I mixed in some chopped cilantro.