Tangy Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Purple Cabbage Slaw

Ingredients:

• ½ red onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/8 c. cider vinegar
• 2 tsp dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp dijon
• ¼ tsp cayenne
• 1 c. beef broth
• 1 bottle Stubbs smoky mesquite
• 4 pork loin chops
• Purple Coleslaw (recipe below)
• Soft Brioche Buns

Directions:

1. Make Brioche Buns!
2. Preheat oven to 350 F.
3. Set a skillet over medium-high heat.
4. Sear pork chops for 1-2 mins on each side and place them in a dutch oven.
5. Using the skillet that the chops were seared in, sauté onions and sugar until softened.
6. Add garlic and stir until fragrant.
7. Add cayenne, Dijon, and vinegar.
8. Add broth and bottle of sauce and stir until combined.
9. Add sauce mixture to dutch oven, bake covered at 300 F for 3 hrs

Coleslaw (Tyler Florence)

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon whole-grain mustard
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 head purple cabbage, finely sliced
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 2 carrots, sliced on mandoline
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. While the pork is cooking, prepare the slaw. Combine the mustard, mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, vinegar and sugar. Mix well and add finely sliced savoy cabbage, purple cabbage, green onions and carrots. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, cover with plastic wrap and set aside in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.

Pork Loin Chops with Vermouth Blue Cheese Sauce and Butternut Squash Puree

(Adapted from Ranch House Restaurant)

A girl I work with was just RAVING about the Ranch House Restaurant in Ojai and was telling me all about this vermouth blue cheese sauce they had.

Since Ojai is a bit far, I decided to try to re-create the sauce as she had described it. To my surprise, I was able to find the recipe for it on Saveur.com!

Ive made blue cheese sauce for pork chops before, but the vermouth, the herb-salt, and the pairing with the butternut squash is just ridiculous. It's not even right how good this dish is.

WARNING: You might need to lick your plate.

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:

FOR THE HERB SALT:

• 1 tbsp. coarse salt
• 1 tbsp. chopped onion
• 1 garlic clove, peeled
• 2 tbsp. fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 tsp. fresh basil
• 1 tsp. fresh thyme

FOR THE PURÉE:

• 1 1-lb. butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
• 1 1" piece fresh ginger, quartered lengthwise
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1/2 tsp. Herb Salt (or more, to taste)
• 1 tsp. brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. sliced almonds

FOR THE SAUCE:

• 1.5 cup dry vermouth
• 1¾ cups heavy cream
• 3 oz. Danish blue cheese, crumbled
• Freshly ground white pepper
• herb salt

• 4 8-oz. loin pork chops, 1" thick, trimmed
• 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt

Directions:

1. Combine herb salt ingredients in a food processor and puree until it has a sand-like texture. Set aside. 

2. For the purée: Put squash and ginger in a pot, cover with water, bring to a boil over medium heat, and cook until soft, 30–35 minutes. Remove and discard ginger. Drain squash and mash to a coarse purée. Stir in butter, herb salt, and brown sugar. Cover and keep warm.

3. For the sauce: Bring vermouth to a boil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Boil until reduced by half, about 7 minutes. Add cream and return to a boil. Reduce sauce by one-third, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat, whisk in cheese, and season with hen salt and pepper. Cover and keep warm. 

4. Place an oiled grill pan over medium-high heat. Brush chops with oil and season liberally with salt and pepper. Grill until just cooked through, about 8 minutes per side. To serve, divide sauce among four plates. Put chops on top of sauce. Serve with a dollop of squash on the side, sprinkled with almonds.

Blue Cheese and Mushroom Gravy Smothered Pork Chops

I may have mentioned that Boyfriend is in Washington D.C. until the end of this month. I may have forgotten to mention that we are hopeless dorks when it comes to missing each other. 

It started with just watching shows online. We've been trying to get through season 7 of 'How I Met Your Mother,' and we've been watching it online...and calling each other first to start the episodes at the EXACT same time so that we can text each other through the whole thing and pretend we're together.

Sad or cute? You tell me.

Anyway, missing each other still, we started using video chatting as a means of staying connected, whereupon I had the brilliant idea to cook via video chat. 

So we decided on pork chops, bought our ingredients, and cooked together....even though we were 2,641 miles apart.

Genius? You tell me.

These pork chops were amazing. I altered the original recipe a little to make them a little more flavorful. The word "smothered" came to mind as I poured the thick, fragrant cheese sauce over my chop. I may have drooled. I probably drooled. 

Okay, I drooled.

Oh, did I also mention that this was the first time I had ever cooked or eaten a whole pork chop? And what a great recipe to start with. Simple, yet elegant and soooo freakin' delicious.


(Adapted from Allrecipes)


Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 4 thick cut pork chops
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder, or to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 1/2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
• 1 cup baby bella mushrooms, sliced

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a large skillet, over medium heat. 
2. Season the pork chops with black pepper, salt, and garlic powder. 
3. Fry the chops in butter until no longer pink and the juices run clear, or until the internal temperature of each chop reaches 160 degrees F. Turn occasionally to brown evenly.
4. In another skillet, sauté mushrooms and oil over medium heat until browned. Set aside.
5. Remove chops to a plate and keep warm. 
6. Stir the whipping cream into the skillet, loosening any bits of meat stuck to the bottom. Stir in blue cheese. 
7. Cook, stirring constantly until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms.
8. Pour sauce over warm pork chops.