Peach Pork Chops with Tomato/Cucumber Pearl Couscous

I really like using sweet fruits in savory applications, and to me, fresh peaches seem to cry out to be paired with pork.  I picked up 4 thin cut (or "quick fry") pork chops, seasoned them with salt and pepper, and seared them in a heavy, hot skillet (avoid both non-stick and cast iron for this) for about 3 minutes per side (or until cooked through).  Set aside, and tent with foil.

Deglaze skillet with wine of your choosing (I used about 1/2 a cup of a rose I had open and around), and add 1/2 a red onion and 1/2 a bell pepper (both chopped) with a couple cloves or garlic and chile of your choosing if you like a little heat (both finely chopped).  I used a red fresno, the most versatile hot chile to cook with, in my opinion.  Cook over medium heat until everything is softened. 

As the onions and peppers cook, drop 3 peaches into boiling water for about 20-30 seconds, and then remove to an ice-water bath.  The skins of the peaches should run right off.  Remove them, cut in half to remove pits, and chop into about 3/4 inch cubes give or take.  Add to the skillet once the onions and peppers are softened, but not mushy.  

Cook until peaches soften up a little, then finish with a small splash of red wine vinegar to liven up the flavors a little.  Spoon over chops and serve -

The couscous is about as simple as it gets:

• cook some pearl couscous, and allow to cool
• chop up peeled and seeded cucumbers (we had lots of CSA ones around)
• chop tomatoes
• finely chop some parsley and mint
• toss couscous with herbs, vegetables, and a couple tablespoons of olive oil
• add lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste

Serve at room temp or chilled (can be made ahead of time).  This goes really well with just about anything, and it is very light and summary.  It is basically tabooleh flavors with pearl couscous.  Enjoy!

Iceberg Lettuce Chopped Salad

This recipe is adapted from a Jamie Oliver Chopped Salad recipe - available here.  I used a head of CSA iceberg lettuce instead of the suggested butterhead, and added the white meat from the roasted chicken I made a couple days ago.  I also couldn't find english mustard at Whole Foods, so I just used dijon.  For the sprouts, I used broccoli sprouts because 1) I like their flavor, and 2) they seem to last longer than other microsprouts.  Finally, because they were around, I threw in a couple chopped tomatoes which added some color.  Here is the result:

I feel like I keep using the same adjectives for the recipes I've been making: light, delicate, fresh, etc.  I think it is because of the ingredients I've been using as much as my lack of vocabulary.  Anyway, this salad turned out fantastically, and I will definitely make it again.  The red wine vinagrette was great, and I look forward to making it with an english mustard.  The iceberg lettuce feels almost like a guilty pleasure - dark greens are obviously more healthy and Romaine is about as light as I go for salad greens.  Maybe it is the common pairing with bleu cheese and bacon with a wedge that connotes a lack of healthiness, but there was something strangely indulgent yet still refreshing about a big iceberg salad.  One last thing - if you choose to add chicken, cook it ahead of time so it has time to cool.

Lemon & Thyme Lamb Chops and Tomato Salad with Red Onion, Dill and Feta

This should be a shorter post, because I can just link to recipes I used.  For the Lemon-Thyme Lamb Chops, I bought double cut chops, and doubled the marinating time. 

To cook them, I heated up a cast iron skillet in the oven at 500 degrees for 20-30 minutes, then moved it to a burner on high.  I cooked the chops for about 90 seconds per side (all four sides b/c the double chops are thick and kind of boxy) on high until they had a nice sear on them, then moved the skillet back to oven at 450 for 3-4 minutes.  This should give you medium rare chops.

On the side, we had couscous and a tomato salad that was a perfect use for the dill from this week's share.  I used 4 different kinds/colors of tomatoes - one from the farm share and three different heirlooms from Whole Foods, a store with which I have a dysfunctional relationship.

I went lighter on the olive oil (1/3 of a cup instead of 1/2) and the feta (about 1/2 a cup instead of a full cup).  The mint and dill together are fantastic, and soaking the red onion in cold water tames the onionyness of the salad.  I kind of wish I'd used less green tomato, because color-wise it is somewhat redundant given the cucumber and all the herbs.  I also used a yellow pepper instead of red for more color and because the flavors are pretty comparable.  The result was terrific - some of the smaller bits of feta become part of the red wine vinegar dressing, and the pepper, cucumber, onion, and olive flavors all meld together in the marinade.  I would definitely make this again.

Here is the final plating, with everything put together:

And finally, what will hopefully become a running bit on this blog, a "Fine Wein" pairing suggestion.  According to Whole Foods, the lamb is from about 57 miles outside of DC, somewhere in Virginia.  Given that the lamb prep is quite French, I was already kind of thinking along the lines of terroir in terms of pairings, when it occurred to me that we had a couple bottles of wine from Chrysalis Vineyards on our wine rack.  We went with their Petit Verdot - Hollin Reserve 2005.

The pairing was great, and I do think there was a common earthiness in the lamb and wine.  Is this because they both hale from a few (or a few dozen) miles apart?  I'd like to think so, but I don't know if my palate is refined enough to really make this call.  That being said, the Petit Verdot was perfect with this lamb prep - its flavor was somewhere between a bordeaux and a cabernet sauvignon.  For a heartier, more wintery prep I would probably want a big cab, but this was ideal with the delicately flavored lamb and bright summer salad.

I think this was a total success, and a great use of the farm share dill (which can be overpowering in some recipes, but not this one) and tomato.