The best pork chops ever !!!

Pork chops are such a retro dish. I have memories of my mother's rather dry tough chops from dinners at our house in the early 60's. I may have tried to make them myself years ago but mostly ignore them when I see them at the market...until a month ago.

I love to buy meat from Fiesta Farms at my local farmer's market, their bacon, sausage, chicken and ground pork are all so tasty. The animals are all raised nearby with lots of love and fresh air. They are too busy farming to have a website but they do have a Facebook page if you want more information.

I was chatting with one of the people that sells for them one Saturday, on impulse I had purchased a couple of chops a few weeks earlier but was afraid to cook them for obvious reasons. I asked her how she would prepare them, a detailed explanation ensued. I went home and googled her "recipe". I tried it out and was amazed at how moist and tender the chops were AND it was very easy !!

The secret is the brine.

Very Easy Brined Pork Chops.

2-4 thick cut pork chops
olive oil
salt & pepper
cast iron skillet

Brine:
3 cups water
3 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon lime juice


This is just a basic recipe for brine, feel free to be very creative.

The second time I made this dish I used part apple juice, with maple syrup instead of brown sugar and omitted the lime juice.

1) Place all ingredients into a small pan, bring to a boil and stir to dissolve the salt and sugar, turn off allow to cool. If you want to speed up the process, use 1 cup of water to dissolve the other ingredients then add the second two cups of cold water.

2) You can marinate the chops for as little as an hour and as long as several days. You can even put them in the cooled brine still frozen if you are planning on a longer brine time. I like to put them in a zip lock bag in a glass baking dish in the fridge.

3) It's always a good idea to let your meat come to room temperature before you cook it if you can. So take the chops out a couple hours before you plan to cook them if possible.

4)When you are ready to cook them, preheat your oven to 400 F and place your large cast iron skillet inside while the oven heats up.

5) Remove the chops from the bag and pat dry. Rub both sides with olive oil, salt and pepper them to taste.

6) Once the oven is hot, remove the cast iron skillet be sure to use oven mitts or hot pads. One of the recipes I looked at stressed this step ;-) " Using oven mitts, carefully remove the hot skillet from the oven and set it over medium-high heat on the stove top. Turn on a vent fan or open a window." Do that.

7) Sear the chops for 3 minutes on the one side.

8) Flip them over and place the skillet in the hot oven for 6-10 minutes.

   I found 8 minutes to be perfect for an inch thick chop.

9) Remove the skillet using those oven mitts/pot holders. Then remove the chops to a plate, cover and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

10) Serve !! Yum !! Never another dry or tough pork chop will you serve ;-)

Almond spread, what to do with all that almond pulp.

I have been having so much fun making my own almond milk, however once it is made, I am left with pulp...

So far I have made a tart crust and the topping for my fruit crisp. I have also dried it and frozen it to use later.

The other day I decided to try a recipe I found online when I googled "what to do with my leftover almond pulp". It is amazing what you can google these days !!
The recipe called it "versatile almond spread", this is true. We used it with the coconut rice I just posted and as a spread on crackers. I know we could have found other uses but we ate it all !!

If you aren't making almond milk just soak 1 1/2 cup of almonds overnight, rinse them well and use them like the pulp, maybe reduce the olive oil by 1/4 cup, the end result may be a bit softer.

Versatile Almond Spread

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic
6 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes soaked in water
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
fresh herbs: thyme, basil, chives, oregano about 2 tablespoons, less if you are using dried herbs
1 1/2 cup almond pulp or soaked almonds
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
salt and pepper to taste


1) In a food processor: the garlic, lemon juice and sun dried tomatoes. Process.

2) Add the mustard and fresh herbs, process until evenly minced. I used a few leaves of fresh basil.

3) Add the almond pulp or soaked almond, process to combine well.
4) Drizzle in the olive oil.
5) Add the nutritional yeast, combine well.
6) The texture should be fairly light and fluffy, adjust with oil and lemon juice.
7) Salt and pepper to taste.
8) Keep in the fridge, they claim this gets better with age, just like me ;-)

Coconut Curried Rice

Coconut curried  rice has become a favorite around here...it makes our usual stir fry dinners much more exciting. Don't let the coconut in the title throw you off. My husband claims to dislike coconut in most dishes, when I first served this rice to him, I didn't mention the name or the ingredients. He loved it and was surprised it had any coconut at all. In fact it has coconut oil, coconut milk and unsweetened shredded coconut.

I first had a version of this recipe at a recent yoga retreat, Talya our Ayurvedic chef, served it for one of our dinners. I have made my own modifications, of course, mostly to make it quicker.

Curried Coconut Rice

Ingredients
2 cups white basmati/jasmine rice or 1 cup brown basmati rice
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds*
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds *
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground tumeric
3/4 cup coconut milk
1 1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut

* I love having these whole spices in my cupboard, if you don't have them use ground cumin and skip the mustard. I'm sure it will still be tasty.

1) In a small saucepan or caste iron skillet, melt the coconut oil and add the spices, both whole and ground. Cook over medium heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring to keep from burning. Set aside.

Here are all the spices before cooking.

2) I use a rice cooker which is soooo easy. If you cook much rice at all I recommend getting one, they are not that expensive.
If you don't have a rice cooker at this point you will place the water, coconut milk and salt into a pot and bring to a boil.

3) Rinse whatever kind of long grain rice you plan to use, remember 2 cups for white rice and 1 cup for brown rice.

4) Place the rice, coconut, cooked spices into your boiling water/coconut milk. Stir well, cover and simmer for 45 minutes for brown rice and 20-25 minutes for white rice. Remove from heat and allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving. Salt to taste.

OR

 Place the rice, coconut, cooked spices, water and coconut milk into your rice cooker and turn it on. Once it is done, allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving. Salt to taste.

5) Gently mix it around a bit and serve.

Nut milks

A few weeks ago I went on a yoga retreat at Mesa Del Sol with Kelly Blaser. What a lovely spot for a retreat, the yoga outside was a delight.

Kelly co-teaches the retreat I attend twice a year with my teacher, Laurie Burr,  at Mount Madonna. 
When I signed up I didn't realize that this retreat was also lead by Tayla and had a portion that was about Ayurvedic nutrition. Tayla prepared all our food, which was delicious.

What does all this have to do with nut milks ?? I have never really been a fan of the commercial nut milks. While I don't have a problem with dairy, I don't drink cow's milk either and soy milk is so passe ;-)
While on the retreat Talya offered us homemade nut milk, it was quite tasty both cold and heated up with spices and honey. Almond milk is good for you with lots of vitamin E, B vitamins and low in carbs and calories if that matters to you.

When I got home I looked up a few recipes and was astonished at how easy it was to make. Since then every few days I make a batch usually with almonds but the current batch has cashews and sunflower seeds.

All you need are the nuts and seeds, a blender and either a mesh bag or cheesecloth.

Easy nut milk

Ingredients

1 cup nuts: almonds, cashews, sunflowerseeds, pumpkin seeds
2-4 cups water

1) Soak the nuts/seeds overnight or for at least four hours.
2) Pour off the soaking water.

3) Place the nuts and 1-2 cups water in a blender. Blend on low, then on high for several minutes.

4) Add more water, up to 4 cups and blend some more. I like my milk rather thick so I use only about 2 1/2 cups of water.

5) You will need a mesh bag or a large square of cheesecloth and a large strainer. I found this reusable  produce bag which worked perfectly. The nice thing about the bag is that I can use it over and over again.

6) Pour the liquid into your bag or strainer lined with cheesecloth and squeeze over a bowl or large measuring cup. Try to get as much liquid out as you can.

7) Place the milk in a jar and refrigerate. Some recipes mention flavoring or sweetening them. Do that if you like.
I love heating it up with some cardamom and honey.
Use it just like you would soy milk or even cow's milk, on hot or cold cereal, in tea or coffee.

Don't throw out that lovely pulp. I have found lots of uses for it and am excited to explore more of them.
So far I used a cup in my bread recipe. In my fruit tart recipe I used 3/4 cup almond pulp and 3/4 cup flour to make the crust.

My fruit crisp recipe was the best ever with this topping:
1 cup almond pulp
2/3 oats
2/3 cups brown sugar
1/4 cup butter

I have seen recipes for spreads and nut flours using the pulp. I will post more as I find them.
If you don't plan to use the pulp right away stick it in the freezer.