A Heartfelt Thank You, A Giveaway and Some Chili-Rubbed Pork Chops

I pulled the car to a halt in front of the mailboxes. With half my body out the window, I hoisted the usual haul of catalogs, coupons and bills onto my lap. Methodically, I sifted through the stack on the very, off-chance that there would be something unexpected in the pile.

Caught between a Pottery Barn catalog and a Pottery Barn Teen catalog (Note to PB: Give it a rest already....), lay a small square envelope with handwritten script for the addresses. After shooing the boys out of the car and telling them they could walk up the driveway if they were that impatient, I slid my finger under the envelope flap and pulled out the floral embellished card. Upon opening it, I was treated to a heartfelt thank-you from a friend. Her words truly made my day, my month, my year.

I immediately felt the need to "reply" back. To thank her for her thank you as we do in the world of email. But with a handwritten and postal service delivered note, there isn't that option. Instead, her words were like a gift...given to me...without expecting anything in return.

I'm not a good gift giver...at least not tangible gifts. I know I've mentioned this to you before but it's true. I still cringe when I think about the batik shorts outfit I gave my sister for Christmas one year. I overthink the gift.

The same is true for thanking people. What should I get them? What would be appropriate? Will they like it? Does the gift seem trivial compared to what they've done for me...my family?

As I roll toward the end of the school year in a tumbleweed of chaos, I have managed to carve out some time to consider how much I have to be thankful for. How much generosity has been bestowed upon me, my children, my family. And again, feeling inadequate on how to properly give thanks, I decided that perhaps a handwritten note would be best.

Giveaway

When I was in Atlanta a few weeks ago, I happened to be graciously invited by Lori Lange on a Pork Crawl hosted by Jaden Hair and the National Pork Board. Essentially 10 of us climbed in a Land Rover limo and were taken, over the course of the evening, to three of Atlanta's top restaurants where the head chef of each place had prepared us multiple creations all made of....pork. Delicious would be an understatement. 

Upon returning to our hotel rooms, we found a huge, wrapped box for each of us left by the wonderful gals representing the National Pork Board. Yes, I realize that on some level, they are doing their job to get us excited about cooking with pork but even considering that, their gift was extremely generous.

And the generosity doesn't stop there. They also offered to pass along that same "wrapped box" to one of you. And considering how grateful I am to you...I couldn't pass up the opportunity.

Inside the wrapped box were these goodies:

• Pork Be inspired branded Apron
• Pork Be inspired Brochure
• Digital Meat Thermometer
• Cuisinart CCJ-100 Citrus Pro Juicer
• Vacu Vin Pineapple Slicer
• Norpro Grip-Ez Jalapeno Pepper Corer
• Cuisinart Grill Pan (I'm most excited about this!)
• Dry Ingredients (Salt, Light Brown Sugar, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Chili Powder)

And not but a few days later, four pork chops were sent directly to my home and they will be sent to your home as well. Then you will have everything you need to make Chili-Rubbed Pork Chops with Grilled Pineapple Salsa.

If you are interested in receiving this generous gift from the National Pork Board, leave a comment with your email address here on this post before midnight, PST, Friday, June 10th. And yes, I realize my "commenter" can be temperamental so if you have trouble with it send me an email instead. I will go ahead and add your name in the comments. (carrieminns (at) me (dot) com)

I will have the Kindergartner draw the winning name from a hat and announce it on Saturday, June 11th. 

For those of you who see my Kindergartner on a regular basis, he may accept bribes. He loves AirHeads (thank you Mr. Kurtz) and Chocolate Chip Mint Ice Cream.

Chili-Rubbed Pork Chops and Pineapple Salsa
Adapted a bit from the National Pork Board's recipe

My family LOVED these pork chops. I changed the salsa recipe from the original one I've linked to above because I didn't have the time or the inclination to grill pineapple and jalapeno but I can't imagine that I missed much. The only negative part about making these was that I didn't make nearly enough! I think this dry rub would also be delicious on pork tenderloin. My stomach is grumbling just thinking about it.

Pork Chop Ingredients
4 pork bone-in rib chope, about 3/4 inch thick, trimmed
1 tbsp chili powder
1 1/2 tbsp light brown sugar, packed
3/4 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt

Pineapple Salsa Ingredients
1 1/2 c diced fresh pineapple (approx...)
1/2 c Rainier cherries, quartered
1 sm orange pepper, diced (approx 1/2 c)
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
a pinch of salt

In a small bowl, combine your chili powder, brown sugar, garlic powder, onion powder and salt. Rub all sides of your pork chops with this mixture and set aside.

Next, combine all ingredients for your salsa in a medium bowl and set aside. I have to be honest here that I was planning on just using pineapple, lime juice and a bit of salt but I added too much salt so I started throwing in other things to dilute it....the cherries, the pepper, the cilantro...and in the end, the fruit salsa I made was devoured by the family and was perfect with the chops.

Next, prepare a grill to medium-high heat and lightly oil the grate. (Um...I forgot the "oil the grate" step, hence the extra-dark grill lines in the above photos.) Grill pork until the internal temperature reaches 145 degrees F or about 4 to 5 minutes per side.  Take those babies off the grill before they dry-out and let them rest 5-15 minutes. Serve with brown rice and salad greens tossed with a simple vinaigrette. Enjoy....

Yield: Maybe 4 people but that could be stretching it since they are that good.



All original text and photographs copyright: Carrie Minns 2009-2011

Straddling the Seasons with Pork Chop Salad

"Ahhh....June 21st. First Day of Summer." I hopped out of bed and ran to the window just hoping the weatherman (no, not a "weatherperson" because I do in fact get my weather report from a man) was wrong. Pulling the curtains aside I was met with gray. All shades of gray and clouds. Low clouds. High clouds and cold. Down jacket, cold. I sighed and wondered if I should just check myself in. "Sun. Why can't we have just one little trickle of it??!! Arrrgghh!" But then, I decided that this weather had been going on for so long..."no more whining." I needed to get on with it. I needed to just grab hold of the old, "If you can't beat 'em...." No, more dwelling on the possibility that I might be living in someone's cruel joke of a snow globe. No, not the sweet, twinkly ones that play Christmas music but the kind that comes with frosted glass to imitate fog. When you shake it, it puts up dark, heavy clouds in varying shades of gray and winding it up you're treated to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. "No, put those thoughts aside."

And, so I did. Wearing my down jacket, I cheerfully dropped my middle guy off at the first camp of the summer season. And then, headed back home, taking time to notice all of the daisies popping up on the sides of the roads. I've always had a thing for daisies...fields of daisies....running in slow motion through those daisy laden fields. Must have something to do with the opening sequence of all of those Little House on the Prairie episodes I watched. Once home, I fixed myself up a bowl of Nancy's yogurt topped with granola, mangoes and those little Hood strawberries that are certainly synonymous with summer, grabbed a cookbook off the shelf and sat down at the kitchen table with my tea, my breakfast and my reading material. Yes, yes, I'll admit that I have a hard time just...sitting. I always feel as if I need to be doing something and so, if no other reading material presents itself when I sit down to eat, I grab a cookbook.

I love reading the inscription on the cookbooks I've been given. This one happened to say, "1993 Happy Cooking! Love, Kathy and Blake." I can remember back to when I was presented with this gift and the different recipes I made from the book at that time in my life. This collection of recipes was put out by Pasta and Co, "Seattle's Leading Take-Out Shop." I recall how I frequented their store at UVillage to buy their creations more than I actually made any back then. Back in those pre-kid years. Back when we'd get together with friends for dinner and talk about our dogs. As I read through the recipes, I realized how many I had yet to try and just how good they all sounded. I started fervently turning down the corners of every delicious sounding dish when I was stopped by the recipe for "Pork Chop Salad." I don't know what it was. Maybe the weather. So fall-ish and pork chops make me think of fall. Or maybe it was the shallots and we all know I have a serious love affair with shallots. Or maybe it was the "salad" part which sounded so...so...summer-ish.

As I stood at the stove, essentially pan-frying my slices of pork loin, I alternated between cursing at the bits of hot oil jumping out of the pan and stinging my hands and being lost in remembrances of my Grandma. When I think of summer, I think of her. So many of my summer vacations were spent with her. At her home. At the coast. And, pan-fying...anything...bacon, ham, cracklins...smells like her. But she would have kept it simple. Salt and pepper. A yellow onion. None of my craziness of chopping up fresh herbs and 6 shallots. And, undoubtedly, her pork chops would have come out better than anything I could ever make. She was just one of those gifted cooks. As I removed my first batch of pork slices and readied myself to cook up the next batch, I could swear I saw the half-finished crossword puzzle on the counter. The deck of cards waiting for a round of Crazy 8's before we ran out onto the beach. And above the sound of the pork sizzling in the olive oil, I could hear her loud, generous laugh...the one I inherited. And somehow, I could feel her arms around me giving me one of her all-enveloping hugs coupled with her smile and her saying to me, "Summer is here, Carrie." And by golly, if the sun didn't come out the next day. And the next. Burned away all of those clouds in the snow globe. (Oh, and the frosted glass that I thought was fog...that was really just dirty windows. I was unable to tell the difference until the sun came streaming in.)

Pork Chop Salad
Adapted from the recipe of the same name in the Pasta and Co By Request cookbook

Now, I find that the name of this recipe is a bit of a misnomer. Kind of like "egg salad." When I see the word salad, I think green leaves and there isn't anything green and leafy in this ingredient list besides the herbs so....for one meal, I turned it into a salad by putting the "pork salad" over a bed of green leaves and adding some cherry tomatoes and crumbled goat cheese. Another day, I put it on a fresh baguette with some greens from a local farmer, a crack of pepper and a pinch of salt for a quick and tasty lunch. And the evening I actually made it, I served it alongside some corn on the cob and a little green salad. My daughter piped up that she thought it would be great on an appetizer table on top of little baguette slices. My sweetie thought white rice might have been nice. I see it paired with couscous in the future. And, the boys....no comment. They were too busy eating. According to the original recipe, this "salad" is meant to be served warm or at room temperature (which makes it good for summer) but never cold. It will keep well for five days in the refrigerator.

Ingredients:
1/2 tbsp dried Italian herbs OR 2 tsp chopped fresh thyme, 2 tsp chopped fresh sage and 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Big pinch of allspice (If you don't have this, I wouldn't worry about it.)
2 1/2 pounds boneless pork loin roast, cut into 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch slices
1/2 cup pure olive oil or other "high heat oil" such as Canola oil
6 shallots, peeled and sliced (the original recipe called for 10)
2 cloves garlic, put through a garlic press
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley to put on top

Directions:
Mix together the herbs, salt, pepper and allspice. Sprinkle both sides of your pork slices with this mixture, using it all.

In a large sauté pan, heat your pure olive oil to very hot. Add as many pork slices as will fit in the pan and brown thoroughly for 2-3 minutes on each side. You want your pork cooked through but not overcooked. I tend to remove my pork from the heat while it still has a faint hue of pink in the middle, knowing that it will continue to cook even after it's taken out of the pan. Remove slices to a large bowl as they are done, tent with foil and set aside. When pork has all been cooked, lower heat. Add your shallots to the pan and cook until golden, about 5 minutes. About 3 minutes into cooking your shallots add your garlic, taking care not to burn it. Add vinegar, raise heat and scrape up all meat drippings. Remove from heat and stir in the extra virgin olive oil. Let mixture cool while you cut pork slices into 1-inch to 2-inch pieces, returning them to the bowl and salvaging all meat juices. Toss pork with shallot mixture.

You may refrigerate the "salad" at this point but when ready to serve, bring it back to room temperature or reheat gently. Make sure to sprinkle the "salad" with a little parsley before serving....however, you decide to serve it. Enjoy.

Yield: About 5 cups

All original text and photographs copyright: Carrie Minns 2009-2010

Pork Loin and Cannellini Beans

We had just closed the chapter on the 2009 fall sports season. Nana and Papa had already headed back up the I-5 corridor after kindly attending yet another sporting event. I had in the car with me, my chickens plus one cousin. They were unusually quiet and with the sun beaming in at just the right angle, I was feeling sleepy. Well, alright, more than sleepy. As in having to slap myself on the cheeks and roll down the window to keep from falling asleep at the wheel kind of sleepy. (But, shhh, don't tell my sister. Her child was perfectly safe.)

We pulled into the driveway and I instructed the troops to enter the house very, very quietly seeing as the youngest cousin of all was sure to still be napping. As predicted, the house was silent and my sister was curled up reading a book. Ahhh...if only it could last. Soon, it was as if we had opened the gate to the hen house and all of the chickens were running around frenzied in the yard. The littlest cousin was up at this point, adding his squawking to the mix and all was as it should be. And then...I did something. Something that can only be done in the presence of one's sister.

I curled myself up on the couch in the middle of the chicken fest. Me and the cat. And, I went to sleep. Right there. Out. Hard. No thoughts of being any kind of hostess to my guests...blood relatives or not. Only thoughts of sleep. And sleep I did. I was later told that I unbelievably slept through the 18-month old composing his 1st symphony on the piano, teen nick shows playing loudly in the living room, all sorts of car, train and lightsaber sound effects being blasted away at full volume and any number of plastic ride-on cars and grocery carts being zoomed past me.

When I, the sleeping princess, finally awoke, I couldn't believe the time. Had I really slept that long? For crying out loud, it was time to make dinner. In my groggy state, I went to the cupboard to pull out the supplies for my pre-planned meal only to discover that I had failed to purchase the main ingredient. Now, what? I had a house full of hungry beings and time was tick, tick, tickin' away. I couldn't do pizza....again. I decided to get creative. Sometimes a good thing...sometimes not. I had whipped up a delicious tomato and shallot pasta sauce a few weeks ago (Have you figured out that I have a thing for tomatoes and shallots?) and since I still had some tomatoes from the little garden that could I thought I'd try that again. But then, I started to stray from the tried and true. I decided to peel the tomatoes. Why? I've never bothered to do that before. And then, I added a chopped up red pepper. Why? I know full well that if you add red pepper to a sauce without another strong ingredient to balance it out such as sausage...well, it's just too strong for our likin'. I looked at my paltry sauce and started to panic that there wasn't enough so I grabbed a jar of Dave's Gourmet Pasta Sauce from Costco. And, poured half in. Why? In the meantime, I sauteed up some shitake mushrooms hanging out in the back of the produce drawer, cut up some apples and declared dinner served. I also made sure to slap down a wedge of parmesan cheese. Parmesan cheese generously grated over anything makes it taste better.

We put the chickens at their own table and my sister and I sat down at the dining room table with my slapstick meal and a glass of wine. I don't recall that my sweetie was with us. I think he may have been hiding. She and I took a deep breath, clinked out glasses and then, talked about friendships, about writing, about life. We discussed the merits of Seinfeld's "Good Naked vs Bad Naked" theory since she had earlier walked in on the baby who appeared to be "diggin' for grubs" while wearing his birthday suit. We talked about religion, about world peace, about working in and out of the home. She shared with me a trick for getting rid of fruit flies. "Set a little ramekin of red wine on the counter with a few drop of dish soap in there. Come morning, your problem will be greatly improved." We talked about raising children, teaching children, feeding children. We shared recipes. Thoughts on nutrition. Recent successes in the kitchen. We were able to relax and just be with each other. To realize that it doesn't always have to be about the food (or the hostessing). More often than not, it's the company that matters most.

The following evening, my sister and her little band of boys had long since disappeared up the I-5 corridor. I was at my computer checking my calendar and email. What did the following week have in store for me? At the top of the list of unread emails was one, already, from my sister. A recipe for Pork Loin and Cannellini Beans. I smiled. Grateful to have that recipe since I was out of dinner ideas and grateful to have shared my weekend with her.

Slow Cooker Pork Loin and Cannellini Beans

Now, that you know, dear friend, that I am "morning-challenged", slow-cooker recipes aren't usually my thing. They require someone who is up and at 'em, fully conscious, organized in the wee hours and well, that's just not me but since this recipe required only 5-6 hours of cooking as opposed to the requisite 8, I was able to pull it off. I happened to serve it over brown rice but quinoa would be equally as good. My sister says that on night two, she wraps the leftovers up into tortillas and serves pork burritos for dinner.

2 tsp Herbes de Provence or 1 tsp ea dried sage and rosemary

2 garlic cloves

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

2.5 lbs pork tenderloin

4 tbls extra-virgin olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 c. white wine

2 cans (14.5 oz ea) cannellini beans

1 can (14.5 oz) fire roasted diced tomatoes

1/4 c chopped sage

1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

1/4 c. parsley leaves

2 tbls toasted pine nuts (optional)

Rub dried herbs, half the garlic, salt and the pepper over the pork.

Heat half the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat; brown pork all over, about 8 min. Place in slow cooker.

Cook onion in skillet over med heat 3 minutes. Increase heat to med-high. Add wine; boil 7 minutes. Drain and rinse beans; stir into skillet with tomatoes. Simmer 12 minutes.

In food processor, finely chop remaining garlic, 2 tbls oil, fresh sage, rosemary, parsley and pine nuts. Stir half into tomato mixture, then pour over pork. Cover; cook on LOW for 5 to 6 hours or until pork is tender.

Remove pork. Turn slow cooker to HIGH; stir in remaining herb mixture to heat. Serve with pork.

Yield: Plenty for 5 people with leftovers to enjoy the next evening or to place in a ziploc and freeze to enjoy in the weeks to come.

All original text and photos copyright: Carrie Minns 2009