Real Food with Mike

On the menu tonight:

* Cinnamon/coriander/coffee/guajillo chili crusted pork loin chops with spicy blueberry reduction sauce
* Roasted white asparagus
* Purple potato salad with roasted garlic-red wine vinaigrette

You guys better like this, I broke my coffee grinder grinding up the spices. Go figure.

Here's how it goes.


First step, assemble all your ingredients:

For the spice rub:

-1 tbsp fresh whole coffee beans
-2 large dried guajillo chilis
-2 sticks of cinnamon (preferably actual cinnamon and not cassia if you can find it)
-About 2 tbsp of whole coriander seeds
-1.5 tsp regular table salt (kosher or sea salt is too coarse for this particular application)
-1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Everything except for the coriander is ready to grind. I would recommend not making the same mistake I did and trying to grind the cinnamon in mostly-whole sticks. Beat it down with something heavy in a ziploc first until it is in small, coarse chunks, then grind. Take the stem and the seeds out of the guajillo chiles and tear them into smaller chunks before grinding. You probably won't get a super-fine powder out of them, which is actually okay. Grind your coffee as finely as you can, you really only want the flavor of the coffee, not the texture. For the coriander, place into a small skillet over medium heat and toss vigorously for about 2 or 3 minutes or until fragrant, allow to cool, and then grind finely.







[IMG]http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f40/lawlrus/IMG_0452.jpg[/IMG]



Potato salad:

-About a pound and a half of purple potatoes (you can use any kind of potato you like, but these just plain look cool - if you use another type, pick a waxy potato like a red-skin)
-Approx. 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
-Approx 1/2 cup red wine vinegar (or any vinegar you have a particular affinity to)
-1 head of roasted garlic (cut top off head, drizzle with olive oil, salt/pepper, roast at 500 degrees wrapped in foil for approx 30 minutes or until very soft, then cool)
-1 jalapeno, diced finely
-Handful parsley, finely chopped
-Salt and pepper to taste

(Didn't get a picture of anything but the potatoes for this one)







For the sauce

-Reserved juices/fat from chops
-Small jalapeno, seeded and finely sliced
-About a cup of ripe, fresh blueberries
-Few cloves garlic, finely chopped
-Approx. 1 cup chicken stock (homemade is best)
-2 tbsp cream
-1 tbsp butter
-Salt and pepper to taste

(not all ingredients pictured)






For the asparagus:

-1 bunch white asparagus (Most people might tell you to peel these, I personally love them raw with the skin on - but I'm weird. Do what you feel like here.)
-1 tbsp olive oil
-Salt & Pepper
-Crushed red pepper flakes



Time to get cooking:


First thing's first: you'll want to put a generous helping of the spice rub mixture onto both sides of your loin chops and allow them to come to room temperature. You probably want to leave them out for about 20 or 30 minutes to give a bit of time for the rub to penetrate the top layer of the meat and impart a bit more flavor into the pork, and also to adhere a bit better.






Then, start by preparing the vinaigrette for the salad. Simply put every single one of the roasted garlic cloves (just squeeze em right out of the head) into a mixing bowl, then whisk with the olive oil until well-blended. Drizzle in vinegar in a slow, steady stream until an emulsion is formed. Then whisk in the jalapenos, parsley, salt and pepper. Easy enough, right?









Go ahead and get your potatoes chopped into fairly uniform pieces and start them in a large pot in cold lightly salted water. Bring to a boil for approximately 10 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender but NOT mushy. Interestingly enough, the potatoes will go from a very deep purple to an almost pastel blue. Set aside away from heat for a few moments. When you're ready to serve, drain your potatoes THOROUGHLY and toss very lightly with the vinaigrette. Top with more parsley and a bit of freshly chopped tarragon and mint if you like.











At this point you'll want to dress your cleaned (and peeled, if you want) asparagus with the olive oil, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. Wrap tightly in a foil pouch and place in the same 500 degree oven you roasted your garlic in for 10-15 minutes or until they're the texture you want. As I said above, I prefer them very lightly cooked or raw, so they only stayed in about 5 or 6 minutes for me.







Heat a skillet (no non-stick, please, you can't make a pan sauce in a non-stick skillet) large enough to hold your chops with plenty of room over medium-high heat with about 2 tbsp of canola/veggie oil or clarified butter. Once hot, sear your chops until a nice crust is formed - BE CAREFUL here, as the spices on the outside of the pork WILL burn if you're not careful.

As soon as you get a nice crust on one side, tent loosely with foil and place the whole pan into that 500 degree oven for about 5 more minutes or until the chops are properly cooked. Some people might tell you that you want pork at 165-175 degrees or even higher - those people are full of shit. This ain't 1985, you're not going to die from pork that's cooked a little pink. Just exercise a little discretion here. It's really easy to mess up and get dry pork.








Take the pork out, place on a plate tented with foil, and allow to rest for 3-4 minutes while you make the sauce:


Put the pan over medium heat, adding more oil or butter if necessary, and toss in your garlic and jalapeno slices. Cook for a minute or two until they just start to pick up some color, then toss in your blueberries. Cook for about another minute, then add the chicken stock and crank the heat up to medium-high. Cook for approximately 6 to 7 minutes or until the stock has reduced by half and your sauce has gone from clear/yellow-tinged to a fairly deep purple. Turn the heat off, then add the butter and cream. Taste for seasoning, then add salt if needed and plenty of freshly cracked black pepper. You're done.













Plate everything up, hopefully better than I did here, and enjoy.