Slow Roasted Rosemary Pork Chops
on Apple and Parsnip Hash
with a Leak and Portabella Blue Cheese Morney Sauce
First let me apologize for my absence. I begun this project, like many projects I begin, with the highest hopes. But life, is life, and I go distracted by the day to day rat race. Shawn has been on me for some time now to come back to it and get blogging. She pointed to my traffic and how it was higher than anything she had ever managed. So here I am, back at it again. I promise to you my foodie friends that I will not the rat race blind me again. As Food is Life and this is my best way to share.
Ah, fall. The time of harvest, the time of the farmers market. Not like I don't take every chance I get to go to the farmers market, I mean its like a foodie paradise. Local vendors hawking their wears. Small booths set up with unusual ingredients for the foodie. Entrepreneurs trying to get their slice of the pie, mostly by selling pie. And of course fresh produce from the surrounding fields and recently departed animals waiting to be consumed.
This dish is what I whipped up after my last trip, and you can look forward to more as the harvest continues.
Enjoy!
2-4 Pork Chops
1 cup red cooking wine
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
3 medium to large parsnips
3 red gala apples
3 table spoons apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
1 table spoon sugar
1 Leak
1 1/2 cups sliced baby portabella mushrooms
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups crumble blue cheese
salt
pepper
garlic powder
olive oil
Season both sides of the chops with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Heat a medium skillet, coat bottom with olive oil. Sear pork chops on both sides. Transfer the chops to a large baking dish. Pour red cooking wine into dish, creating a bath for the chops. Do not cover them completely, just a nice bath. Strip the sprigs of rosemary placing the leaves on top of each chop. Wrap dish in foil, place in preheated oven at 350 degrees. Now forget they are in there for at least 45 mins.
Peal and Dice Parsnips into small squares. Now for those just learning, it is important to keep the squares about the same size so they cook evenly. Place parsnips into medium sauce pan with water, bring to a boil until parsnips are just before fork tender. (Fork Tender, there is one of those terms that I picked up on over the years, and was completely unaware that the whole world didn't know what it means. Simply put, you can stab it with a fork with very little resistance. Now in this case I am saying before fork tender, which means you would have to know what fork tender was, how to identify it, and how to know what things look like just before they become fork tender, and because parsnips are not a widely used ingredient, I am sure, you have no idea. So cook them until they get soft, but not mushy)
This process of partially cooking the parsnips by boiling them, is known as par-boil. Again another term I was unaware that the whole world didn't know, and I am not completely sure its not some West Virginia Hillbilly word from my youth. But, it is what I call it, and will continue to call it, until Wiley Dupree or some such celeb chef corrects me. Par-boiling is used to get dense food cooked partially so the cook time of them matches the cook time of other ingredients in your dish. Use it wisely and cautiously as you don't want to boil the flavor out of your food.
Peal and Dice Apples. Keep these about the same size as your Parsnips. Heat on med-high the pan you used to sear the pork, coat the bottom of the pan in olive oil. Place Parsnips and Apples in pan and sauté them. Once they Parsnips and Apples begin to cook, combine Apple Cider Vinegar, Water and Sugar in a bowl and pour on top of Parsnips and Apples. This will deglaze the pan. Meaning get all of the brown bits from the pork off the bottom and up adding to the flavor of the hash. Keep cooking the has until it browns. Keep moving the hash around as to get all of it some time on the bottom to get browned. Be careful not to smash it up to much, we are making hash and not mash.
Chop the Leak Up. As many people don't use leaks on a daily basis, let me just clarify how to do this. Cut the root end off. Make sure you can see the rings of the leak clearly and there isn't any funny grey color. If you can't see the rings, cut off more. Then on the other end, the dark green is no good. Yes, yes I am aware you paid for these by the pound, and now I am telling you to cut most of it off, but just do it. If you really want to make use of the dark green find a blog from some crafty person and learn how to make a center piece out of them. Then cut cylinder you have left long ways. Then chop into little half moon pieces just like celery. Heat a medium skillet, coat the bottom in olive oil. Add Leaks and Mushroom. Sauté until mushrooms break down. Add Butter. Melt Butter. Add Flour, whisk/stir until all the flour is gone and it appears that there is a paste all over the food. If you still see flour, add oil, add butter, add fat. (Fat equals flavor) Pour in Milk and begin to whisk. Keep whisking and the sauce will begin to thicken. It should begin to resemble gravy. Add Crumbled Blue Cheese, whisk until it completely melts. Tada! You have made Morney Sauce, and quite elaborate one at that.
Spoon hash onto plate, remove pork from oven and place on top then add sauce. Yummy, Harvest!
