Thyme and Rosemary Pork Chop with Mango Ginger Sauce and Dirty Carrots

Pork Week continues, using the mango (I get nearly as many fruits as vegetables in the box) and some carrots.

1 mango, diced
2 1/2 T. sugar
1 1/2 T. red-wine vinegar
1 1/2 T. sherry
1 T minced ginger
salt and pepper

1 boneless center cut pork chop
thyme
rosemary
1 garlic clove, minced
olive oil

3 carrots, peeled and sliced 1/4" or smaller
1 T. butter

Put the mango chunks, sugar, sherry, ginger, and vinegar into a small saucepan. Cook over low until mango softens up. Whisk and simmer until all chunks are breaking up. Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper.

Coat the pork chop with oil and sprinkle with thyme and rosemary, salt and pepper. Brown both sides in a skillet, then cover and cook on medium for 5-10 minutes. Remove from the pan and let rest.

Add the carrots to the skillet and deglaze with a little water or broth (maybe a 1/4 cup). Salt. Cover and steam the carrots for 3 minutes. Uncover and add butter. Reduce (boil off) any remaining liquid.

Plate carrots, pork chop and spoon half of the sauce on the pork.

Verdict: A-
Credits: The Eating Well Rush Hour Cookbook (1994, Eating Well Books): Pork Tenderloin with Keys Mango Sauce
Leftovers? Yes. The flavor of the sauce develops overnight.

Notes: Mangoes are nearly impossible to work with. My best way to chop up a mango is to slice off large pieces until I get to the pit. Then I score the pieces and slice the chunks from the peel. It's not perfect.

Pork Chop with Citrus Salsa and Wilted Spinach

Despite my good efforts, the vegetables were delivered on Tuesday (four days before I got back). I had in mind to detox for a few days, semi-fasting even, but even though some of the food (lettuce) was already bad and some (yams) will keep, I feel like I should consume the good-but-going-bad stuff this week. So my detoxing will take the form of Pork Week. Six center cut boneless porkchops, miscellaneous sauces and whatever vegetables need to be used.

1 pork chop (6 oz or so)
olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced

2 C. spinach, washed
1/4 C. apple cider vinegar
2 T. sugar

1 grapefruit, peeled, sectioned and chopped
3 oranges, peeled, sectioned and chopped
1/2 lemon, peeled, sectioned and chopped
2 T cilantro, chopped
1 habanero pepper, seeded and minced
salt

For the salsa (Xec), mix in a bowl the grapefruit, orange, lemon, pepper, cilantro and season with salt. Let sit.

In my new Le Creuset cast iron French oven or other skillet, heat the oil and cook the garlic until golden, then brown the pork chop on both sides and cover for 5-10 minutes. When the pork is done, remove from the pan and let rest on a cutting board. Take the pork off the heat while it is still pink in the middle, it will continue to cook while resting.

Decide there is not enough pork fat for the spinach and chop 1 slice of bacon and fry in the skillet. When it is well browned, add the sugar and vinegar. Stir to disolve the sugar and reduce the vinegar to a syrupy consistency. Add the spinach and toss with tongs to coat with the vinegar reduction. Cook until wilted. Season with black pepper.

Plate the spinach, the pork chop and generously spoon the citrus salsa over the pork.

Verdict: C+, the spinach and the fruit were old
Credits: Cooking Light Jan/Feb 2004 Pork Tenderloin with Xec
Leftovers? I'll try the leftover salsa.

Notes: The idea for the spinach was that there would be sufficient pork fat from the pork chop, but it didn't seem like it so I chopped and added a slice of turkey bacon before the spinach. You cannot over-reduce the vinegar, because liquid from the spinach will make it thin again.

I would expect that two oranges would be sufficient for this recipe (the grapefruit and orange quantities are 1:1 in the original recipe), but these are old, dry oranges so I added a third. It was not as spicy as I expected. Maybe tomorrow.

Update: I had another try of the Xec after it kept overnight. The fruit was just too old and dried out, I think. It was spicier, but still not that good with the pork. Maybe this would be better with fish, or with some complementing side or spices.

Mexican Frittata

Trying to add a little variety to the eggs during my stay in Cabo San Lucas

4 russet potatoes, peeled, quartered and cut in 1/4" slices
2 jalepeno peppers, diced
1 large onion, diced
1 avocado, diced
1/2 cup of chorizo, cooked and drained
1/2 cup of pepper cheese, grated or finely chopped
1/2 cup of Monterrey Jack cheese, grated or finely chopped
10 eggs, beaten
oil or butter

Boil the potatoes for a few minutes, they don't need to be completely cooked. In a skillet, saute the onion and peppers until soft.

Mix together in a baking casserole or pot (I used a 5 quart pot) the potatoes, onions and peppers, avocado, cheese and chorizo. Beat the eggs and pour over the top.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until eggs are firm and browning on the edges. The middle can be a little soft. The cooking time will depend on the shape of your baking pan. Top with a little more grated cheese during the last couple minutes of baking.

Serve with salsa and tortillas.

Verdict: B+
Leftovers? Yes, keeps for a couple of days.

Notes: This would have been even better with more fresh peppers, especially poblanos. Also, tomatoes would have been good.

Spaghetti alla chorizo

This doesn't have many vegetables (especially since I didn't put the tomatoes on my serving), which is pretty much the pattern for my eating in Mexico.

1/2 lb. chorizo (loose, not a link in a case)
1 package spaghetti
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 C. grated parmesan
1 tomato, diced
salt and pepper

Cook the spaghetti. In a fry pan, cook the chorizo. Add the spaghetti to the pan and stir. Transfer to a bowl and add the eggs and most of the cheese (reserve a little for topping). Stir, the hot pasta cooks the eggs. Season with salt and pepper.

Plate and garnish with tomatoes.

Verdict: C
Credits: Spaghetti carbonara
Leftovers? This was pretty good the next day.

Notes: I am not sure about the quantity of chorizo and cheese that I used, but it's pretty close. The flavor of the chorizo was just not quite right with the parmesan and egg, but it was edible and a break from greasy nachos.

Holiday pause

I have stopped the vegetable delivery until after the holidays. It seems likely that I will have little time to cook fresh vegetables either. I have had take-out Chinese and bagels with sundry spreads and canned soup. I will probably snack my way through this week and then show some (!) restraint at Christmas and in Mexico. I love vegetables, but this is the time of year that my eating habits suffer.

Resolutions 2004, here I come!

Homestyle chicken

Regardless of what the title dish is in the South, this is the name of my favorite dish at Hunan Balcony (97 & Broadway). It is chicken breast slices with green beans in a brown sauce with ginger threads (sliced with the grain). Spicy! Before moving to NYC, this dish was unknown to me and I thought it was a specialty of Hunan Balcony. Now it looks like it is available all over town, but I am so pleased with their version that I am reluctant to try other places in the neighborhood.

It is what I ordered tonight as a compensation for the cancellation of my flight to France.

Rome report

No, I didn't do any cooking while I was in Rome. In fact I hardly did much eating. When I travel, especially when I travel alone, I find that I can either do hardcore sightseeing or experience the nightlife. Usually not both. This trip, since everything was new, I hit the sights hard and didn't have much energy for going out.

I did experience a couple of dishes worth mentioning:

At Enoteca Corsi: the artichoke antipasta. Unbelievable! A whole artichoke, trimmed, served in oil and lemon and delicious.

Also, the Spaghetti alla Carbonara was fabulous. Both of these I tasted from my lunch companion's meal. I did not have such good luck ordering my own meal (it was good, not great).

At Due Colonne, the best dish I had was a bruschetta with paper-thin beef, arugula and parmesan cheese. Delicious!

The vegatable market at the Campo dei Fiori was fun to wander around, but I didn't purchase anything. Not there, not in the shoe stores, not in the boutiques. Next time.