Real Food with Mike

Cliffs: mom's birthday was today, she saw the photos of the other stuffed chops I made last night and requested something similar. I was much obliged to fulfill said request. On the menu:

-Pan-seared pork chops stuffed with spinach, goat cheese, walnuts, and kalamata olive with a red wine-coffee-maple reduction
-Herbed roasted new potatoes
-Insalata caprese with fennel


Preface: antipasto course

For a simple appetizer I made a standard insalata caprese using locally grown organic tomatoes, fresh, whole-milk mozzarella, basil from my back porch, and thinly sliced fennel bulb. Top this with a drizzle of (preferably homemade) balsamic vinaigrette or just EVOO and balsamic vinegar separately. Liberally apply kosher/sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper and allow to sit for flavors to meld a bit for at least an hour.



For the crostini (bread) above, use a crusty loaf of italian or french bread, cut on the bias, brushed with olive oil and broiled or grilled until golden brown and delicious as above. Sprinkle with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper and serve with the caprese.

Step 1: assemble your ingredients

For the stuffing: All items should be finely diced aside from the mushrooms and olives, which should have a small but still rough dice for better texture.




From top left going clockwise:

Baby spinach, chopped walnuts, crumbled goat cheese, cremini mushrooms, fresh tarragon, shallots, garlic, Kalamata olives


For the sauce: you'll need one large shallot, very thinly sliced, along with about a tablespoon of finely minced tarragon. You will also need about 12 medium-sized cremini mushrooms, sliced. Finally, you'll want about a cup to a cup and a half of red wine (I used a pretty decent cabernet for this, but you're free to use whatever strikes your fancy), along with a tablespoon of maple syrup - the real kind, not Mrs. Butterworth's - and two tablespoons of STRONG brewed coffee. (Preferably freshly ground and freshly brewed.)



For both: olive oil, sea/kosher salt, and freshly ground pepper to taste


Step 2: prepare your chop(s)

You're going to want to make a "pocket" in the meat by cutting into the side right in the middle and very carefully slicing a hollow cavity. Go as far to the back of the chop as possible without cutting through the other end, and try your best to open up the sides as well if possible.

When you're done with that, lightly brush each side with canola oil and liberally apply salt and pepper.




Step 3: cook your stuffing

Simple: lightly sweat your shallots and garlic (medium low-medium heat) with a little olive oil and some salt/pepper. When everything starts to get soft, toss in a bit more oil along with your mushrooms. After the mushrooms start to shrink a bit you can throw in the spinach, olives, and walnuts and allow it to wilt very briefly. Take it off the heat, put it into a bowl, and mix in your goat cheese (to taste). Allow to cool briefly before stuffing.









At this point you might consider tossing your potatoes together. Very simple recipe for these: I used about 7 cloves of roasted garlic (see below), a couple tablespoons of olive oil, generous amounts of salt and pepper, dried oregano/basil/parsley (I prefer dried to fresh for this application), and a few red pepper flakes. Try to cut your potatoes into pieces that are similar in size so that they all cook evenly, then toss with everything to coat and roast in a 500 degree oven (covered with aluminum foil until the last 5 or 10 minutes) until potatoes are fork tender.





About the roasted garlic:

An extremely simple recipe for this is as follows - one head of garlic, drizzled with olive oil, topped with salt and pepper, then covered loosely in aluminum foil and roasted in a hot oven until soft and golden. Allow to cool before attempting to handle or you will be sorry.



Step 4: stuff your chop(s)

Use a couple of tablespoons of stuffing at the most. You don't want it to bulge, you don't want the stuffing to fall out in the middle of cooking, and most importantly, you need to treat the stuffing as the accoutrement it is. Balancing ingredients and flavors is one the most important parts of cooking.






Step 5: Sear your chop(s)

Heat a stainless steel skillet (no non-stick, please) over medium-high heat with about two tablespoons of vegetable oil. Do not use olive oil as the smoke point is too low for really high-heat cooking and it will burn when you put it in the oven, giving you a bitter final result. Sear for a minute or two until you have a nice crust, flip it over (if the pan is really dry you should add another tablespoon of oil), then stick the pan, covered, into a 500 degree oven. Roast for 5-10 minutes depending on how big the chop(s) is/are and how many you have. You're aiming to just barely cross the line from pink to white...a very light pink is fine, today's pork is nowhere near as dangerous as the pork from a decade ago. Take the pork out of the pan and drop it onto a plate tented loosely with a piece of aluminum foil to allow it to rest.




Step 6: making the sauce

Using the same pan that you seared the chops in, you're going to sautee your shallots very briefly until they begin to slightly caramelize. (You may need to add a bit of oil if there wasn't much fat on the meat.) Throw in the mushrooms and allow them to cook until slightly browned and about half-cooked. Crank up the heat to medium high or so and pour in the wine and coffee to deglaze the pan. All those "nasty" bits of black and dark brown in there are actually extremely tasty and you want to scrape them with your spoon to get them into the sauce. Stir and let it reduce by half. At this point, pour in your maple syrup and allow to cook for a minute or two more. When you're ready to serve, turn off the heat and toss in your finely minced tarragon. Allow to cook with the heat off for just a moment more and then sauce your plates.









Step 7: enjoy

Once again, my presentation is awful, but that's why I'm not in a 5 star restaurant getting paid $100k a year to run the joint. It tastes amazing, and that's what matters most.