Apple and Gorgonzola Stuffed Pork Chops with Cherry Reduction Sauce

This is a great dish for a special occasion or to serve to company.  You can prepare the chops through step 3 and just store in the refrigerator until 40 minutes before dinner.  I stuffed pork chops but you could stuff a pork loin or roast, too.

Ingredients:
6  bone-in pork rib chops, 1.5 inches thick
¼ cup salt (for brine)
butter for browning

Stuffing:
2 tbs butter
3/4 large red onion, finely sliced
2 cored and peeled tart apples, diced
3 oz gorgonzola cheese
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Sauce:
The rest of the red onion, minced
1 bag (16oz) frozen cherries, thawed and chopped
1 cup chicken broth
1 cup red wine
1 tbs honey
2 tbs butter
salt and pepper to taste

Step 1: Brine the chops
Use a sharp knife to cut a large pocket in the center of each chop.  If you do this right, you can cut a large pocket while leaving a relatively small opening with just enough room to put the stuffing in later.  Dissolve the salt in 6 cups of water.  Submerge the chops and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Step 2: Prepare the Stuffing
Melt the butter in a pan and add the onions.  Cook over med-low heat for 15 minutes.  Add the onion and cook another 10 minutes.  The apple should be soft and the onions nicely carmelized.  Combine the onion and apple with the blue cheese and macadamia nuts in a bowl.   Mix well.

Step 3: Stuff the Chops
Remove the chops from the brine and pat dry.  Use a spoon and your fingers to fill the pockets in each chop.

Step 4: Cook the Chops
Preheat over to 450 degrees.  Melt the butter in a large skillet.  Brown the chops on each side for about 2-3 minutes per side (unless your skillet is really huge, you may have to do this in 2 batches).  Place on a baking sheet and cook in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the inside temp reads 140 degrees.  Meanwhile, prepare the sauce.

Step 5: Prepare the Sauce while the Chops Cook
Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a pan and cook add the red onions over med-high heat until softened.  Add the red wine, broth, and cherries.  Reduce by half, add the honey, remaining tablespoon of butter, salt and pepper.

Serve the sauce in a separate dish and allow guests to pour their own sauce.

Broiled Salmon with Tarragon-Lemon Compound Butter

I like to broil fish because it is fast and easy. If you’ve had the foresight to defrost the fish or actually bought it fresh that day you can make a really good dinner in 20 minutes. Sometimes I like to get creative with sauces and glazes but it’s hard to beat this compound butter in terms of simple, rich deliciousness.

Compound Butter:
4 tablespoons (½ stick) good quality butter, softened
juice and zest from ½ lemon
1 tablespoon dried tarragon
1 clove garlic, pressed or crushed

Salmon:
4 4oz salmon fillets
olive oil
sea salt
pepper

Combine the softened butter, lemon juice, zest, tarragon, and garlic in a bowl. Transfer mixture to the center of a piece of plastic wrap. Fold over one side of the wrap and gently roll to form a neat cylinder. Put in freezer to firm until the salmon is ready.

Line a baking sheet with foil and top with a roasting or cooling rack (see photo). Place the salmon fillets on the rack, brush with olive oil and sprinkle generously with sea salt and pepper. Broil on the top oven rack until the top is spotted brown and the edges flake easily with a fork (about 10 minutes).

Top each fillet with a pat of butter.

Anuja’s Sri Lankan Chicken Coconut Curry

Let me call your attention to a few changes I made in Anuja’s original recipe in case you want your chicken curry to be truly authentic.  First, Anuja called for 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs) of chicken pieces whereas I used 5 good-sized chicken breasts.  Second, I used the slow cooker but Anuja’s recipe simply calls for 45 minutes or so of stove-top simmering after you add the coconut milk.  Finally, I read her recipe as requiring 2 tablespoons of cayenne pepper.  I reduced that to ½ tablespoon because although I have a pretty high heat tolerance, 2 tablespoons is out of my league.  Upon closer review, however, I see that she wrote cayenne chili powder, which is much milder.

Don’t forget to add the salt and lemon juice at the end as they round out the flavors in a wonderful way.

2 tsp coconut oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp freshly grated ginger
3 to 4 green or red chilies, seed removed and cut lengthways into thin strips
1 tsp ground tumeric
1 tbs ground coriander
½ tbs cayenne pepper
5 large-ish chicken breasts, cut into chunks
1 can coconut milk
2-3 tbs coconut cream (I found unsweetened coconut cream at an Asian grocery.  If you can’t find it, reserve some of the creamy part of the coconut milk to add in at the end)
1 pandan leaf or ¼ cup fresh curry leaves (also at the Asian grocery)
2 tbs lemon juice
salt to taste

Heat oil in a large skillet and add the onions. Sautee until soft. Add the garlic, chilies, tumeric, coriander, and cayenne. Reduce heat, sautee for another 2 minutes or so.

Transfer onion and spice mixture to a crock pot. Add chicken, coconut milk, and pandan or curry leaves to a crock pot and and cook on low for 6 hours or so (you can go longer if you need to).

Stir in them lemon juice and coconut cream. Salt to taste. Remove leaves. Serve over cauliflower rice.

Indian Spiced Spare Ribs with Mango Sauce

2.5 lbs pork spare ribs
handful of cilantro, chopped

The Rub:
1 ½ teaspoon ground ginger
1 ½ teaspoon tumeric
1 ½ teaspoon cumin
1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tablespoon sea salt

The Sauce:
1 tablespoon coconut oil
2 shallots, chopped
1 ½ teaspoons curry powder
½ teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon fresh grated ginger
2 cloves garlic
2 mangoes, peeled and cut into chunks

Remove silver skin from the ribs. This is a thin membrane along the underside of the rack. It can be a little tricky, but once you get a good grip on it you can peel it off in one or two pieces. Combine rub ingredients in a bowl and use your hands to rub the spices into all sides of ribs. Wrap ribs securely in a foil packet and either heat in your oven at 300 degrees or over indirect, low heat on your grill at for about 1 ½ hours.

Meanwhile, you can make the sauce. Heat the coconut oil in a sauce pan and add the shallots. Cook over medium-high heat for several minutes until they soften. Reduce the heat and add the curry powder, pepper, ginger, and garlic. Sautee for a minute or so to release the flavors, but be careful not to burn the garlic. Add the mango chunks and continue to heat until the mango softens and you can mush it easily with the back of your cooking utensil, about 15 minutes. At this point you can just mash everything together by hand or put it all in the food processor to create a smoother sauce, which is what I did.

When the ribs are done cooking, remove the foil and feel free to eat them as they are, with the sauce. I placed them on the grill over direct heat for several minutes and brushed on some of the sauce, like a traditional barbeque sauce. Don’t put on too much, though, or it will make a mess of your grill. Sprinkle ribs with fresh cilantro and serve with remaining sauce.

Kohlrabi Casserole with Sausage and Fresh Thyme

This recipe is adapted from the Kohlrabi Ham Bake at Simply Recipes, one of my favorite recipe blogs.

3 tbsp butter
5-6 cups kohlrabi, cut into ½ in. cubes (or a mix of vegetables)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 lb sausage, cooked (I’ve used both the ground variety and cut up turkey sausage)
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
3 egg yolks
1 cup cream
2 tsp arrowroot starch (if you don’t have arrowroot starch you could use cornstarch *gasp*)
pinch of nutmeg
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Sautee the onion, kohlrabi and thyme with the butter in a large pan until the onion softens, about 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, beat the yolks in a bowl and whisk in  the cream, starch, nutmeg, salt and pepper.  Add the sausage to the kohlrabi and onions and transfer to a 9×11 in casserole dish.  Pour the cream and egg mixture over the kohlrabi and onions.  Bake for 30-40 minutes.