Pork Chops with Horseradish Cream Sauce

Pan-roasted Pork Chops
2- 2" bone in pork chops
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh cracked pepper
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1 Tbl. olive oil
2 carrots- chopped
1 celery stick- chopped
1 bay leaf
2 c. chopped brussel sprouts

1. Preheat oven to 425. Bring the chops to room temperature and rub with the salt, pepper, allspice and marjoram. Heat a saute pan to medium high, add in the oil and when the oil's hot but not yet smoking, add the chops. Let brown on all sides.

2. Add the carrots, celery and bay leaf around the chops in the pan, then over that add the brussel sprouts. Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes, then remove and cover the pork. Pour out and reserve 1/4-1/2 cup of the pan juices. Keep roasting the vegetables for another 15-20 minutes until tender.

Horseradish Cream Sauce
1 c. heavy cream
1/4- 1/2 c. of the reserved pan juice (depending on how much you have, add in 1/2-3/4 c. chicken or beef stock)
1/4 c. grated horseradish
1/4 c. diced apple
2 Tbl. finely chopped scallions (original recipe calls for chives)
1/2 tsp dry mustard
Salt to taste

1. Combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan and let simmer over a low heat for 30 minutes. Taste for and add salt. You can serve with the apples and scallions for a chunkier sauce or strain them out with a sieve.

Kale and Almond Pesto

Kale and Almond Pesto

3 c. kale- roughly chopped

3-4 basil leaves

1/4 c. chopped parsley

1/2 c. roasted unsalted almonds

1 garlic clove

1/4 grated parmesan- plus extra to shave over

1 c. olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a food processor add in the basil leaves, parsley, almonds and garlic. Set a salted pot of water over medium high heat and once boiling, add in the kale. You made need to do this in batches. Blanch the kale for 1-2 minutes, then remove, drain and add to the processor (it’s ok if a little water from the kale gets in).

2. Add the grated cheese and then blend together. While blending drizzle the olive oil in through the top until it has a creamy consistency- you may not need all the oil, or you may need more. Taste for salt and pepper and then serve over pasta with some grated parmesan on top.

Turkey Chili Revisited

The past few days in NYC have been perfect chili weather. Cold, a bit dreary. The part of fall I tend to dislike the most as too many of these gray days have me wishing I could bottle the endless blue sky autumn days, have me thinking too much about what’s next to come. One or two gray days can be feasible though, finding someone special to cuddle under blankets with, watching old movies, making warm, hearty meals. But only one or two and then I get antsy, thinking this favorite season of mine has already come and gone. But for now I’m staying optimistic. We’ll have beautiful blue sky fall through November, at least.

But I digress. So on gray day #1 I made turkey chili. An all day project for a day I had nothing planned and where the weather outside was not one bit hospitable. I’ve posted my chili before but this time I made a few different tweaks in order to keep myself from having to venture out. The first change was no beer. It may sound like blasphemy but it’s true. My desire to stay warm and dry outweighed having beer in my chili and I can live with that. Second change was tomato paste, that just happened to be hanging out in my fridge, begging to be used. And it’s funny how two little adjustments can make something just that much different. In a good way. A great way actually. The addition of paste and lack of beer I think made it richer all around, there was still plenty of depth (I mean there’s bacon, molasses, ancho chile cacao all in here… on top of everything else) but with beer there probably would’ve been that extra hoppy layer. But it was a success, especially for a recipe that I considered pretty perfect from the start. The perfect meal to brighten up a dreary fall day.