I finally did it. Ibroke the spell and actually cooked. Idon’t mean reheated, or cold poached or relied on default memories of pastas long loved. Imean sat down, thought it out and created acompletely original recipe using all of my faculties.
I had my synapses working in both directions. And we all know that synapses are essential to neuronal function, and without neuronal function there would be no such thing as really good cooking. Because neurons are specialized cells that pass signals to individual target cells. And neurons use synapses as the means by which they pass along pertinent information.
Information such as: “Gosh these pork loin chops look fabulous”. And because the neurons Iwas using to view those loin chops at the meat counter this morning were able to share that information with other neurons in my brain the inkling of arecipe wasborn.
And Iwant you to know that without synapses the information Igleened by staring at those beautiful loin chops would have just sat in the receiving neuron never actually meeting its destiny. And in this case the destiny of that information may have started with amere visual cue, but that cue was able to travel back and forth between neurons, telling my body what actions to take to transform those fabulous pork loins into the luscious, delicious, (if Isay so myself) recipe that required all my cognitive skills to bring to you today! Ithink Ieven spelled it all correctly…
And to further prove that Sup’s! brain is fully functioning, Ihave decided to do the wine pairing for this dish myself. Those duties usually fall to my brother Sip! because he is much better at it than Iam.
Still, Ido know athing or two about wine and my rule of thumb is–“ if it’s good enough to drink, it’s good enough for the sauce. Or do Imean–if it’s good enough for the sauce, it’s good enough to drink? In either case it doesn’t take awine genius to decide to bring to the table the very same wine that Iused in the red wine reduction sauce. Duh…
That is if there’s enough left over after the sauce and the nip or two the cook took! Hell, let’s open another bottle. This is the kind of meal that is meant to be savored.
After all, my neurons and synapses have worked hard today. Ithink they deserve the kind of break that only alittle too much red wine canbring!
So here you are, the first real cooking from Sippity Sup in2010.
Stuffed Pork Loin Chop with Swiss Chard, Bacon, Sage and Chianti Sauce serves 4 CLICK here for printable recipe
- 3 T oliveoil
- 3 clv garlic, lightly smashed
- 2 lb swiss chard, center veins removed
- salt and pepper totaste
- 4 sli bacon cut crosswise into 1/2†strips
- 1 c day old rustic style bread, crust removed and cut into rough pieces varying between 1/4†and 1/2â€
- 3 T pinenuts
- 8 pieces of oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes cut into 1/4†dice
- 8 sage leaves, cut crosswise into very thin strips (chiffonade)
- 1 1/2 c fruity red wine (such as achianti)
- additional sage leaves, leftwhole
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 2 T italian parsley, chopped
- 20 small round red potatoes
- 2 medium shallots, peeled and cut inhalf
- 1 sprig
- 2 boneless pork loin chops, 2inches thick
- 4 additional slices bacon (leftwhole)
- 1 T vegetable oil
- 2 more sage leaves, finely chopped as garnish
The Stuffing
Heat the olive oil in alarge skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the smashed garlic cloves to the hot oil and swirl them around the pan. After amoment, remove the garlic cloves and discard. Add the Swiss chard, and alittle salt and pepper. Cook stirring and tossing continuously until it is barely wilted, about 4minutes. Put the chard into acolander to drain. When slightly cool use apaper towel to press out as much moisture as possible. Chop the chard and add it to amixing bowl.
Using the same skillet, wipe the bottom and sides with apaper towel and set it over medium heat. Once the pan has reheated Add the cut bacon strips to the pan, stirring occasionally. Once it begins to brown, but is not yet crisp remove it to apaper towel lined plate to drain. Reserving the bacon fat in the skillet still set over medium heat.
Add the bread cubes and pine nuts to the skillet and cook giving the pan all of your attention until everything is toasted and golden brown. Then add the bread, pine nuts and cooled, cooked bacon to the same bowl as the Swiss chard. Add the diced sun dried tomatoes, sage chiffonade, and apinch of pepper (salt is probably not necessary, but check). Set the stuffing aside.
Chianti Sauce
Add the red wine, one whole sage leaf, one sprig of thyme, and chopped parsley to asmall saucepan. Bring the mixture to aboil then lower the heat and cook until reduced to asyrupy consistency. Strain the herbs out and set the sauceaside.
Potatoes
Put the red potatoes, shallot halves, the remaining sprig of thyme, the sprig of rosemary and agood amount of salt into alarge pot. Add enough cool water to cover the ingredients by 2inches. Bring the pot to aboil and cook about 10 minutes. The potatoes should be cooked through, but still quite firm. Drain the potatoes and then immerse them in cool water. Set aside in the cool water while you prepare thepork.
Pork
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Working with one pork chop at atime, lay one on it’s side in front of you and insert the tip of your knife into the center cutting apocket into the chop. Making sure to leave 3sides intact. Season the insides with salt and pepper and fill its cavity with about 1/4 of the chard stuffing. Press the meat closed around the mixture, pressing to evenly distribute the stuffing. Lay the chop flat again and top with four or 5whole sage leaves. Wrap the pork with 2strips of raw bacon, covering the sage leaves and winding the bacon around the chop slightly overlapping. Make sure you enclose the stuffing completely. Use toothpicks to secure the ends of the bacon slices. Continue until both chops are stuffed and wrapped.
Find apan with shallow sides (such as acast iron skillet) that is ovenproof and large enough to hold both of the chops and all the potatoes. Use this skillet to warm the vegetable oil on aburner set to medium. Lay the chops in the pan in asingle layer; cook 6–8 minutes, turning the as needed to assure even browning of the bacon. Add the potatoes to the pan surrounding the chops. It’s ok if the potatoes cover the chops somewhat. Move the pan to the preheated oven and cook another 5–7 minutes, until the pork has reached an interior temperature of 140 degrees Ffor medium rare. Move the chops to acutting board and let them rest about 8minutes. In the meantime put the potatoes on awarm serving platter.
Once the pork has rested, slice each chop on adiagonal, across the grain into 1/2‑inch thick slices. Top the potatoes with the sliced pork and drizzle about 1/2 of the Chianti sauce over the chops and toss the chopped sage across the platter. Serve warm with the remaining sauce passed at thetable.
SERIOUS FUNFOOD
Greg Henry
SippitySup
Stuffed Pork Loin Chop with Swiss Chard, Bacon, Sage and Chianti Sauce
