New recipe!

Tonight, I tried out both a new recipe and a new piece of kitchen hardware!

My new Le Creuset 3.5qt Braiser…I have to say, it was love at first sight!

I stumbled upon another blog recently, Rufus’s Food and Spirits Guide, where I found an interesting looking recipe, Pork Chops with Blueberry sauce and decided to try it!

I made a few changes and amendments to this recipe, for one, I only used two chops but made the same amount of sauce in the recipe.  I normally find that recipes don’t give you enough sauce, (what can I say? I have a sauce-lovin’ hubby!) but this recipe was pretty good with the sauce-meat ratio! I also didn’t use the grill.

I left the pork in the marinade for a little while, before searing them over the stove in the Le Creuset, topping with a smidge of stock (so it didn’t stick to the pot) onions, carrots and putting into the oven (350F) for around 25 minutes.

Pork Chops with Fresh Blueberry Sauce

Ingredients:

• 4 1″ thick pork loin chops
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp green pepper
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp rosemary
• salt
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

In a large pan mix cider vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, and 1/2 cup water. Season pork chops with salt, rosemary, green and cayenne pepper and place in marinade. Flip after 1/2 hour. Start fire in grill and cook over medium heat until done, flipping once about 12 minutes. Meanwhile heat brown sugar and balsamic in a sauce pan until reduced by half. Add blueberries and nutmeg and cook over medium heat until berries burst and sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Serve pork chops with blueberry sauce on top.

It was ok, Col liked it more than I did, but I don’t think it was a ‘make it again’ kind of recipe.  The sauce was very tart, perhaps a little more sugar? The blueberries didn’t add as much as I thought they would have, perhaps raspberries? I’m not sure, but this dish had a kick that wasn’t necessarily a good one.  The marinade on the pork was pretty tasty, but you can’t go wrong with rosemary! It was an alright dinner, we both ate it, and maybe this recipe is for someone who appreciates balsamic vinegar more? My friends Becky and Matt perhaps?!