Monday, September 1, 2014

Summer Nostalgia/ These aren't your grandma's pork chops

I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to say goodbye to summer yet. I've been so busy with clients, visiting family and chasing after the new crawler in our home that I feel like summer just blew past me and I've missed it.  With this in mind I spent this holiday weekend making lots of summer favorites. Friday's dinner was really more tropical in theme, but it features two of my favorite flavors on the planet: coconut and mango. I'm making Coconut crusted pork chops with fresh mango salsa.

The salsa is best if it can marinate  a few hours before serving or even overnight, so we'll start with that first.  Some of you may be unfamiliar with fresh mangoes because you've only bought them as a puree or already sliced and frozen. So step one is how to cut a mango.  A mango has a big almond shaped pit in its center that is usually about 1/2 inch thick. Instead of cutting it directly in half where you see the spot where the vine was attached, cut down on either side of it.  When you're done you will have 3 pieces: the one with the pit and the two halves.  I cut the little bit of flesh around the pit and use that too because I can't stand wasting any bit of a mango.  For each of the halves, score with a knife (cut into the flesh but don't go through the skin), lines across and down so you have the effect of a tic tac toe board. Then from the skin side push in the center which will cause the squares of flesh to pop away from the skin. From here, you can curt them off more easily (see the photo).

After your mango is diced up, toss in the juice of 1 lime, some kosher salt, chopped fresh cilantro and finely diced Jalepeno.  A note on jalepenos (especially if you wear contacts):  When cutting them up wear rubber gloves so you don't get the heat on your hands because you will never get it off before a few days. If you take out your contacts and then go to put them in the next day without having worn gloves, you will get a nasty surprise.  Also, if your guests don't like really pict food, be sure to remove all the ribs and seeds from the inside of your Jalepeno.  Here's how my salsa turned out. The little red bits are actually Jalepeno... Thats what they do when you leave them on your garden vine extra long, just like a bell pepper would do.


I used thick cut pork chops tonight for my meat but chicken breasts that are split would work very well for this recipe as well. Just cut down on your cooking time.  To bread the chops I used three shallow containers: 1) 1/4 cup flour- I used whole wheat flour with a 1/2 tsp of salt  2) 1 egg with a tablespoon of milk whisked together  3) 1/2 cup flour with 1 cup of coconut flakes also known as coconut powder if you're shopping in an Indian market.  Dredge the chops through the containers in order (flour then egg mixture and finally coconut mixture.

Now you're ready to cook them.  You can use butter to fry these up in the pan, but I prefer to use coconut oil, about 2 Tbsp.  It blends with the coconut flavor and is a little healthier for you. Brown each side of the chops so they begin to get crispy. About 5 minutes total, then transfer them to the oven. I like to place them on a rack raised over the pan so they stay nice and crispy. Cover with foil and bake about another 20 minutes. I actually do this in my convection toaster oven at about 350F so you might have to adjust your time to a bit longer for your oven.

Remove the foil for the last 5 minutes of cooking.  Then serve up with the mango salsa and enjoy! NOTE: this recipe is gluten free & pale friendly if you use coconut milk & coconut flour in place of the regular flour and milk.