Friday, February 4, 2011

Ginger-Peach Glazed Pork Chops

Ginger-Peach Glazed Pork Chops a la Mary Salo Reinbold

February 4, 2011 at 9:29 pm
I got this from my friend, Mary, after she raved about it all over facebook.  Told everyone it was her family's new favorite dinner, so of course I had to try it.  Well, it really is that good, people!  This isn't a recipe with exact quantities.  As long as you have the key ingredients, you can't go wrong.  Unless you leave the house entrusting someone else to turn off the oven when the food is done, and you shouldn't have trusted said person because they ate their share and then let yours burn to a crisp.  I ate it anyway.  I figured if they loved it/me so much that they gave me a burnt offering, the least I could do was try to appreciate it, right?

Ginger-Peach Glazed Pork Chops

Preheat oven to 350* ish.

Heat skillet, add a bit of oil (I prefer olive oil, coconut oil, or lard).  Brown pork chops on both sides (thick or thin chops, whatever you prefer).  S&P.  Place in oven-proof dish.  You can also cook up some onion and/orgarlic slices if you wish, but it isn't part of the recipe. :)

On top of chops in dish, squirt a goodly amount of soy sauce and lime juice (Sub lemon if you absolutely must, but lime is much better).  You want some to cover the bottom of the pan so you have "gravy" for your potatoes or rice or whatever you decide to make; it's excellent over both.

If you have fresh ginger, grate or thinly slice it and put atop the chops.  If you don't have fresh, powdered works great, too; just give it a sprinkle.

Lastly is a nice sized glop of peach jam.  Apricot jam is a good substitute.  If you don't have jam, but you do have fruit (fresh or canned) then smoosh it up real good and put that on top.  Not quite the same, but hey, when you really want your chops, you do what you can with what you have!

Put in the oven.  You can cover or not, whatever suits your fancy.  Bake (and make sure if the oven was actually on a "preheat" setting that you change it to "bake") for however long it takes to finish cooking the chops thoroughly and hopefully until they are nice and tender.  Probably 30 min minimum.  That will depend upon how thick/thin they are and how hungry you are. :)

I've also made chicken this way, but instead of peach jam I used raspberry.  And I don't think I used ginger.  But I really don't remember.  Use the technique and change to suit your mood and what you have in your fridge and pantry.

Be sure to let me know how you and your family like it!