A TASTE OF YELLOW - Guava Pork Chops With Cornbread

A new experience for me, the LiveSTRONG With A Taste Of Yellow event, which is a way of supporting the Lance Armstrong Foundation. As hostess, Barbara of Winos and Foodies says, "by raising awareness of cancer issues world wide. It is a way for all food and wine bloggers to share their stories. The happy and the sad, the struggles and the triumphs."  I have a dear friend, Andrea, who has gone through chemo treatments twice now, and is still dealing with all the resulting impairment to various organs.  She struggles bravely on, with an upbeat attitude, encouraging others all the time.

My yellow foods are the guava in this Pork Chops with Guava Chutney, since we are now back in guava season around here, and also cornmeal in Thin Crispy Cornbread, by Deb of Smitten Kitchen, from her Cornbread Salad post.

So, that's the background for a terrific recipe, inspired to start with by our beautiful, new (opened this week) improved, natural foods store here in Hilo, now carrying fresh, YES, (not frozen from the Mainland) naturally raised on the Big Island, pork chops. I eat pork pretty rarely, given the conditions of commercial hog farms (feed additives, hormone supplements and the like, treatment, etc.) Well, okay, bacon occasionally (frozen from the health foods store) on Sunday morning, when Bob is there to actually eat breakfast with me.  So, it's great to have something in the pork department worthy of dinner, and a recipe for this terrific event.

I, not cooking pork chops for eons, referred to my copy of Alice Waters', The Art of Simple Food.  Simply, Pan-Fried Pork Chops with a quick pan sauce of port wine, sliced guavas and my Guava Chutney, served with hot cornbread and a side salad of fresh greens and pickled vegetables.

I minced some sage and thyme, and added salt and pepper to season both sides of two chops, 1/2  inch thick.
Heat a heavy (I used a cast-iron) frying pan over medium-high heat.  Then pour in several tablespoons of olive oil and swirl to coat the pan.
Add the pork chops and cook them til brown on one side, about 5 min.  Turn over and cook til done, turning again if necessary for even cooking.  Let the chops rest on a plate for 4 min. or so before serving, while whipping up your pan sauce.
For the sauce, I added about 1 cup of of red dessert wine, you can use Port or Marsala, stirring up the bits of pan drippings, and reduced by half.  At the end I added a sliced, de-seeded guava and about 1/2 cup guava chutney, then simmered a few more minutes. Finally, turned off the heat and swirled in a bit of butter, about

1/2 teaspoonful at a time to enrich the sauce, a tablespoon in all.  Or, you could use cream and heat it through.

 

Pour over the pork chops and serve with thin crispy cornbread (which wasn't all that thin, really).  Recipe at Deb's site above, or use your favorite cornbread.  I'm going to do the salad she posted, so wanted to try her recipe.  It was denser than I'm used to, not calling for any flour, only cornmeal, but good.