Friday, September 23, 2011

Summer's farewell...

First day of fall yesterday.  I couldn't quite say good-bye to summer though.  The grocery still has lots of peaches that are remarkably delicious in spite of a hard as a baseball feel and my bumper crop of basil is begging to be used!  What's a cook to do but pretend it's still summer.

If YOU still have good peaches and fresh basil (bet you do or want some of mine), give this recipe a whirl.  It's a favorite that originally came from Real Simple but The Reverend Janey turned me on to it.


4 - 3/4 inch cut pork chops (I cut my own*  The original recipe called for bone-in but I've never been particularly good at following directions. Or recipes)
2 tbs Olive Oil
2 fresh peaches cut in wedges
1 small red onion cut in wedges.
3 tbs white wine vinegar
salt and pepper
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves (I have plenty if you need some).

Preheat over to 400 degrees.

Heat oil in large oven-safe skillet.  Pepper (and salt, if desired) porchops.  Add to pan and cook on both sides for 3-5 minutes until browned on each side.  Transfer chops to plate and set aside.  Add peaches and onion to skillet with 3 tablespoons of vinegar and a bit more pepper.  Toss for about 1 minute over heat.  return the pork chops and any juices to the skillet.  Pop the skillet in the oven and roast until the porkchops are cooked through and the peaches are tender -- about ten minutes.  
 
Sprinkle everything with basil leaves and serve either on couscous or rice.  I prefer couscous (quicker to cook and yummy).



*tip for the day: big whole pork loins are often on sale.  I learned long ago to buy them on sale and cut them into normal family-sized portions (cut in half for the four Mathewsies) and freeze the portions in ziplock bags. I move them to the refrigerator the night before I'm going to use them.  You can do great pork roasts and carnitas with them in a crockpot, too.  I used to go ahead and cut them into chops and chunks before freezing but I find they're a lot easier to cut into whatever shape I want for a meal when they are still partially frozen.

5 comments:

iselby said...

I need more tips like the pork chops one...

and if you have a ton of basil this is a yummy (albeit less healthy) recipes that we love:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/06/pasta-with-pesto-cream-sauce/

I used my mini food processor and was so proud of myself :)

iselby said...

Oh and couscous... sooooo good!

Gwen Williamson Mathews said...

I love that Pioneer Woman, myself!

And, I was going to tell you to make your pesto and freeze it in ice cube trays but she already told you that!!

I love pesto...

Peddie said...

Holy yum!!! The Baumi's have a tone of freezers in the basement (they are foodies, you know) so ours up here doesn't get turned on to save energy and consequently I forget all the time that I have spinach and ice cubes down there. Maybe if I froze some meat I would go down there more....

In my big salad making time when I had the job, I would always add something extra to the lettuce, carrots, seeds (I LOVE SEEDS! sunflower, linseed, and pumpkin!), which would either be a hard boiled egg*, meat of some kind, or a peach/necktarine!!! It sounds way tastier cooked with pepper, but I still recommend it for a good cold salad!

(Though, I always would put an egg in along with whatever else if I had pre-boiled some. I love an egg. My dressing, for the record, was usually just salad herbs, olive oil, and balsamico.)

Peddie said...

Ps: "Nice Perrier!"

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