Peaches and Pork Chops

Jamie Oliver, you have done it again.  Won my heart with your devilishly handsome good looks and charming style and my taste buds with your simple and delicious recipes. 

I try and have dinner with my sister and her family a couple times a month. Even though we live less than ten minutes away from each other arranging these dinners is often difficult with my ever changing schedule and her need to not vary away from my one year old nephews schedule.  When we do get together it is almost always at her house and consists of me stopping in after work, which means that she does all the cooking.  It's always a good meal and good company but can leave me feeling a little guilty for not treating them to my culinary talents.  Since it's the holiday season and I have some extra time off I decided to take Jackson (my nephew) for a day of bonding.  I knew the afternoon would consist largely of his nap so I planned ahead to spend that time preparing a meal for my sister and her family. 

I had some pork chops in my fridge that I got at an excellent price and really didn't want to have to freeze so they became the focus of dinner.  As I was pondering how to prepair them, outside the normal barbecue flavor that my family is accustomed to, I noticed a naked chef starting at me.  That is, Jamie Oliver's face from the cover of his book The Naked Chef Takes Off.  I grabbed the book and scanned through the pages until I found a pork recipe that suited the ingredient I had on hand.  The following recipe is what caught my interest:

Roast loin of pork with peaches

one 7 rib loin of pork
1 bunch of fresh thyme, leaves picked and chopped
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter
salt and freshly ground pepper
8 fresh peaches (or two 16oz cans in natural juices)

His recipe entailed scoring the fat, cutting a cavity between the meat and ribs (bones) and filling it with a seasoned butter and packing it full of peaches.  Binding the meat and roasting in a 425 degree oven for nearly an hour.

Since I didn't have a 7 rib loin of pork but instead 3 pre cut chops (no bones) I altered the cooking method as follows.

Preheat the oven to 425.  Pat chops dry with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper.  Mix thyme and butter and rub liberally over meat and place in an oven safe dish.  Drain peaches and reserve the juice.  Roughly chop peaches into 1/2 inch pieces and pour over the pork with the reserved juice.  Cook uncovered for 25 to 35 mins or until internal temp reaches 145.  Remove pork from pan.  Transfer any juices and yummy bits from the bottom of your roaster into a sauce pot, cook with 1/4 to 1/2 cup white wine.  Pour over chops right before serving.   

Wonderful, wonderful recipe.  I think next year when peaches are fresh and in season I will make some more peach butter (it was such a favorite last year).  And this time I will make an extra batch that is infused with herbs specifically so I can use it as a glaze, inspired by this recipe.

Peaches for you, Peaches for me.

For anyone who is also friends with me on facebook you saw how excited I was to find a mysterious new fruit in my local grocery store. It was labeled as a 'UFO/ Buzz Lightyear Flying Saucer' peach, marketed and grown by Disney. I googled it when I got home and found it to be one of over 200 species of peaches grown around the world. This particular peach, better known as a donut peach, is native to Asia. Generations ago it was a favorite among Chinese emporers because you could easily hold it in one hand and it did not drip juices into their beards. The varieties that you find here in the United States have been scientifically modified to be slightly sweeter than the original variety and have a firmer flesh to make shipping and handling easier. I sampled a few of these peaches fresh before turning them into butter and I must say the Chinese deities had it right. Not only did this peach not drip juice everywhere, the skin was very thin and had little fuzz making it very easy to eat and enjoy.
On this most recent photo shoot with Miss Theary, we multi-tasked and made several different dishes. I knew the peaches were something I wanted to work with but we weren't positive what else we were going to use. So, we stopped by a road side produce stand in my neighborhood to get some ideas. Turns out the only thing they had that we were interested in was more peaches. This time from Georgia, just like Theary.
While reading one of my many books on preserving food I came across some interesting information about fruit butters. The most popular and common would be apple butter. What I found most interesting is that there is not actually any butter in these products. In fact nothing even slightly similar to butter. They consist solely of fruit and sugar. For soft fruits like peaches they are first blanched and shocked (submerged in boiling water, then ice water) and then pealed and chopped. For hard fruits like apples they are pealed first, then chopped and cooked. Once the fruit is ready it is placed over heat and cooked until it is completely tender (easily cuts with a plastic utensil) and then removed from heat and pulverized. The trick here is to completely 'mush up' the fruit with out liquidizing it. I use and immersion blender, a regular stand blender would work also. Once you have the right consistency it goes back on the stove and the sugar is added. Heat until the boiling point is reached and then reduce to a simmer for 20 mins. Place the hot butter into hot jars, seal with a two part lid and boil completely submerged in a hot water bath for 15 minutes.

6lbs Peaches
4 cups sugar

This dish is obviously great as a breakfast or snack item but I found a way to mix it into a savory dish. This weekend was my belated birthday party and I celebrated in my favorite fashion by having friends over for food, drinks and games. I was determined to redeem myself from the mediocer chicken wings I served last time I had a get together. I stuck with the party/finger food genre but this time went with meatballs. And they were a hit! They were spicy, sweet and smelled wonderful!

2lbs lean ground turkey
2tablespoons curry powder
1tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
1tablespoon fresh chives (minced)
2 teaspoons fresh minced garlic
2 eggs
1 cup breadcrumbs
salt and pepper to taste
1 yellow bell pepper
1 orange bell pepper
1 jar home made peach butter* (or store bought)

mix first eight ingredients together and form into meatballs. brown on all sides in a frying pan with a small amount of oil. Transfer into a glass baking dish and cover with peach butter and diced up bell peppers. Bake until cooked through (20-30 minutes). Enjoy!

p.s. this recipe also makes awesome burgers, mix first eight ingredients and form patties, cook to order and add sauce to top before serving. Pick a nice hearty flour dusted roll for a perfect burger.