Summer Food Files - Case 2: Pork and Peaches

During the dog days of summer, to avoid heating up the house, I do a lot of cooking outdoors.  One of my favorite things to grill is pork chops.  Now that I have the option of buying pork at the farmers market, I pretty much never buy it at supermarkets anymore.  Regional family farms are producing piggies that taste like piggies once again, and have plenty of fat on them.  My favorite vendor is Full Quiver Farm.  They are primarily in the cheese making business, and make some fine cheeses, but being good frugal farmers, they had to find something useful to do with all the whey leftover from the cheese making process, so they started feeding it to their hogs.  The resulting pork is really, really, tasty.    Supermarket pork pales by comparison.

My usual technique for grilling pork chops is easy, but requires a little advance planning, because the pork chops are cured in a brine for three or four days prior to cooking.   I really like applesauce with my chops, but in the summer I like to grill fruit to serve with the pork instead.

Brine
1/4 cup Kosher salt or 2 tablespoons table salt
1/4 cup brown sugar (You can actually use granulated sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, or a combination)
5 cups water

Combine the ingredients, and stir until the salt and sugar are completely dissolved.

You can add some spices to the brine if you like, but you will only notice them if you use very punchy things.  Bay leaves, crushed red chili flakes (about a teaspoon), and a cinnamon stick all work well.  If you are using spices, you can really bring out their flavor by steeping them in a few cups of hot water before mixing adding the rest of the ingredients for the brine...be sure to cool the mixture to room temp before adding your pork.

This is enough brine for about four to six good sized pork chops.  I prefer center cut, bone in chops, about a half inch thick.

Brine the chops in the fridge, at least for 24 hours, but preferably for three to five days.  The longer brining time really enhances the texture and flavor of the chops.  This isn't a recipe for anyone on a low sodium diet.  The resulting pork as a pleasantly salty sweet taste, almost ham-like.

Rinse the chops thoroughly under cold water to remove the excess brine, then pat them dry with paper towels.  To prevent the chops from curling while cooking, make a series of slits through the fat along the side of the chop.  This will also help the fat render, giving a nice crispy edge to the chops.

Rub the chops with just a few drops of olive oil, then season with freshly ground black pepper.  Remember NOT to add any additional salt at this point.  They are plenty salty.

Split your peaches in half, and remove the pits.  Drizzle the peaches with a little olive oil and season them with a little kosher salt and black pepper.

I always do this recipe on a gas grill.  You can certainly do this over charcoal if you want, but I'm always preparing it on a weeknight after work, and like to keep it quick and easy.

Heat your grill up on high until it is rocket hot, about 10 minutes at full blast.  Mine has a thermometer on it, and I take it all the way up to about 550 - 600 degrees before cooking.   Turn the burners down to medium high, lubricate the grill with a rolled up paper towel soaked in vegetable oil, then toss on the pork.

Stay close by.  At these temperatures, the fat that starts to render can quickly flare up, and if you aren't there to move things to safety, you will have a porcine bonfire on your hands.  Cook the chops for about six minutes on the first side.  Turn them a quarter turn after about three minutes to make some fancy grill marks if you like.  I cook them covered for most of the time, but I open the lid frequently to check for flare ups.  Flip the chops over, and cook another three to five minutes, until the chops are cooked through.  This recipe is for 1/2 inch thick chops.  If you are using thick pork chops, you will need to increase the cooking time.

Transfer the pork to a serving platter, and tent with foil to keep them warm while they rest.  Crank the grill back up to high, let it heat up for a minute or two covered, then place the peaches cut side down on the grill.  Grill the peaches for about three minutes, then flip them over, and continue grilling for another two minutes.  Your cooking time may vary depending on the size and ripeness of your peaches.  In the end, you want the peaches to be tender, but not mushy.

Prepared this way the peaches actually taste quite savory.  To my palate, they taste tarter than they do raw, and the char from the grill adds a slight bitterness that works really well with the sweet-salty pork.

If you like you can drizzle the grilled fruit with a little aged balsamic vinegar, but only if you have the real (expensive) stuff.  If all you have is supermarket balsamic, then don't bother, you'll ruin them.

This recipe also works quite well with other stone fruits or even figs.

Enjoy.

Peperonata addendum.

Peperonata leftovers 

+ grilled home made venison sausage 

+ store bought flat breads heated up on the grill

______________________________________

= Yummy!

Summer Food Files - Case 1: Peperonata

Summer is now in full swing in central Texas, and the farmers markets are loaded with beautiful produce.  One of my favorite vendors, Finca Pura Vida, often has some very interesting heirloom varieties of peppers for sale.  Whenever they have them, I buy a bunch to make one of my summer standbys, peperonata, a simple Italian sweet pepper dish.  The recipe I follow is a spin on a recipe from one of Mario Batali's cookbooks.  It comes together relatively quickly, and I always make a lot of it, so I'll have leftovers.  If you're growing your own bell peppers, and you find yourself with an over abundance, this is a great use for them.

Ingredients:

6 sweet bell peppers sliced into strips
1 medium red or yellow onion sliced into 1/4 inch slices
2 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
1/4 tsp crushed red chile flakes
olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp good quality red wine vinegar
1 cup tomato puree, left over tomato sauce, or diced canned tomatoes
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1 tsp minced fresh basil
salt and pepper to taste

You'll need about six or seven good sized peppers.  Ideally you should have a mix of yellow, red, and green peppers, but really I'll use whatever looks good...just don't use all green peppers, they are not sweet enough on their own.

Heat a large saute pan or dutch oven over medium high heat.  Add good glug of olive oil, about 2 or 3 tablespoons.  Toss in the onion, garlic, crushed red chile, and a pinch of kosher salt and cook stirring often, until the onions and garlic are translucent, about 5 minutes.  You don't want them to brown.  The salt helps the onions release their water, speeding up the cooking process.

Add all of the peppers, and stir the pot to get the peppers well coated with olive oil.  Add a little more olive oil, if it seems a bit dry.  Add another pinch of salt to help things along.  Cook stirring occasionally until the peppers begin to soften, about 10 minutes.

Now add the sugar, vinegar, whatever tomato product you are using, and the herbs.

Stir the mixture, to incorporate all the ingredients, cover the pot, reduce the temp to medium, and let it simmer stirring occasionally, until the peppers are nice and tender, but not mushy.  This will take about 15 or 20 minutes.  Taste, and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.  Yields about a 1 quart mason jar of peperonata.   It will keep in the fridge for at least a week.

I love serving my peperonata with grilled fish, chicken breasts, or sausages.  It's also great on sandwiches, as a topping for bruschetta, or tossed with pasta.