Pan-roasted Pork Chops with Cranberries and Red Swiss Chard

With Valentine's day around the corner, maybe you're looking for a special meal to cook for your honey muffin. I planned a romantic evening last night, set up the table with a few special items, and got to cooking. This recipe was delicious and not too difficult. Bon appetite!


Pan-roasted Pork Chops with Cranberries and Red Swiss Chard

For Swiss chard

• 1/3 cup minced shallots (2 medium)
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 lb red Swiss chard, stems and center ribs cut out and chopped together, leaves coarsely chopped separately

For pork chops

• 4 (1 1/4-inch-thick) rib pork chops
• 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

For sauce

• 1/3 cup minced shallots (2 medium)
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1 cup fresh or thawed frozen cranberries (4 1/2 oz)
• 3/4 cup chicken stock or broth
• 3 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried, crumbled
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Prepare Swiss chard:
Cook shallots and garlic in butter in an ovenproof 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until golden, about 5 minutes. Add chard stems and center ribs and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Add leaves and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until tender, 6 to 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then transfer chard to a heavy saucepan and wipe out skillet.

Cook pork chops:
Pat chops dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then brown chops, about 3 minutes per side.

Transfer skillet to oven and roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted horizontally 2 inches into meat registers 155°F, 7 to 9 minutes. Transfer chops with tongs to a platter, leaving fat in skillet, and cover chops loosely with foil to keep warm.

Make sauce:
Sauté shallots in fat remaining in skillet over moderately high heat, stirring, until golden, about 5 minutes. Add wine and deglaze by boiling over high heat, scraping up brown bits, until reduced by half. Add cranberries and stock and simmer, stirring occasionally, until cranberries begin to burst, about 2 minutes. Stir in brown sugar and thyme and simmer, stirring, until berries are collapsed, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter until incorporated, then season with salt and pepper.

Assemble dish:
While sauce is cooking, reheat chard over moderate heat, stirring. Divide among 4 plates and top with chops, then spoon sauce over.

Gluten-Free Thanksgiving

On Friday, Nick and I had our first Thanksgiving together- we cooked a full dinner.

After doing a few weeks' worth of research, we came up with recipes for turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. We chose to make green beans as our vegetable, and my roomate made mashed potatoes.

I let out 14 pound bird brine in salt/sugar mixture in a cooler in my refrigerator over night. In the morning, we made a spice rub with coriander seeds, white pepper corns, and fennel seeds. Since we'd never cooked a turkey before, we had to overcome a few hurdles. None of the recipes we read included the key "hints" necessary to bake a flawless turkey, such as:
1. Covering the bird with tin foil during the first few hours, and leaving the thighs/wings covered most of the time, holds in the moisture.
2. When you put a rub on the turkey, be sure to do it on a prep surface separate from the roasting pan, as the seeds use in the rub burn when left in the bottom of the pan and may smoke up your entire apartment.
3. Somewhere in the low 300's is an ideal temperature. (Nobody seemed to agree on this.)

None the less, our turkey was delicious, especially the skin. Nick's gravy was made from the turkey broth we boiled with the neck and giblets, the drippings, and a rue. It turned out a little lumpy, but still tasty. Our green beans were steamed and buttered. Sarah made the mashed potatoes with butter and G-F chicken broth. (Thank you Pacific and Imagine companies for inventing pre-made G-F broth.) The cranberry sauce was a bag of fresh cranberries, a cup of orange juice, a cup of sugar, and a tablespoon of orange rind. For dessert, we ate pumpkin pie and cider. I made the pie following the Libby's recipe on the back of the pumpkin can, substituting the Carnation milk with condensed goat's milk (using extra brown sugar and vanilla to cut the goat taste), and baked it in a G-F pie crust from Whole Foods. I made the cider in a crock pot- 1 bottle of apple juice, 3 cinnamon sticks, and an orange/clove ball set on high while we ate.

I am still loving the leftovers; extra turkey dinner will go with me to work the next two days. I can't wait until next year when we can do it all again! Even my mother called me the next day to compliment us on our presentation, good cooking, and a wonderful time.