Messy and Picky

Ain't that a beautiful sight? We get these amazing pork chops from Countytime Farm out in Hamburg, PA (about 30 minutes north of Reading). Paul Crivellaro delivers them fresh about once a month to the farmstand and when they come in fresh, they're kept fresh for a couple of days before we put them in the freezers for safe storage. Stuffed pork chops are something I always thought were a fancy item and something that took a long time to make. Good god was I wrong.

Step one is get your hands on some thick-cut pork chops (about 1" thick). I highly recommend these Countrytime pork chops. Paul raises some incredible hogs. From the site:

The "Big Black" pigs we raise on our farm were called Devon or Cornwall pigs from their area of origin in England, but now are a registered rare heritage breed named "Large Black Hog" and are hardy, docile and friendly foraging hogs that feed from pasture vegetation and grains. Because they are slow to mature, they aren’t the type of animal that produces uniformly injected flavor, chemically treated meat one may find at large supermarkets, but alternatively are appreciated for tasty succulent meat and excel cured as artisanal bacon.

"Tasty succulent meat" ditto.

Two-packs run roughly $10 – $15 so you'll get 2 solid meals out of them. I cook them, cut them in half and take them in for lunch so I actually get more than 2 meals out of them. If you get them fresh, that will save you some time, but you'll have to make them quickly before the meat's no good. I'd stick meat in the freezer by day 5. If you get a frozen chop, put it on a plate and in your fridge overnight. It'll be ready to handle by dinner prep time. Once you have a defrosted chop, take it out of the fridge and bring it to room temperature. While you're waiting, do your prep work. Ah, what should you stuff into your chops? I think apples are great, but not here. I went with onion, shallot, garlic and habanero peppers. In addition to that, I coated each side with coarse salt, fresh ground pepper, sage and rosemary. I also prefer the awesomeness of cast iron, but any oven-safe skillet will do.

The prep: preheat your oven to 400&deg:F. Chop up half an onion, finely slice up a shallot and finely slice a habanero, mince a clove of garlic. In a little mortar and pestle, portion out a couple pinches of rosemary and sage and give them a grind. Once the chops are at room temperature, hold the chop on the bone end with your non-cutting hand. Take a sharp knife and cut a pocket on the fat side running the length of the side. You may need to do some maneuvering to cut out the inside of the pocket some more. Salt and pepper and rub the herbs into each side of the chops. Get some heat going under your skillet. Add in some olive oil and once hot, add in the onion and shallots. Cook those down for a minute and add in the garlic and habanero. Cook them down until your kitchen smells lovely and then dump the goods into a bowl and place the skillet back over the flame. Now the fun part.

Stand up the chops, bone side down, and open up that pocket. Now stuff the chop with the hot onion, shallot, garlic, habanero mixture. This will get easier after you've done it a few times. Overstuff it a bit, don't worry. Now put the stuffed chops into the skillet and cook each side for about 4 minutes until a nice crust develops. Stick the entire skillet into the oven to finish off for another 8 minutes. Take them out and marvel at how easy that was. Let them sit and rest for a few minutes before digging in.

Today was the first day I was able to sleep in (no work, no photo gigs, no wedding planning, no nothing) in several weeks and it was grand. I planned to make myself a decadent breakfast/brunch and it was going to include the hot ingredient of the season: ramps. I really like the taste of ramps, not to the craziness some people have over fiddlehead ferns and ramp season, but I do enjoy them. We've prepared ramps with asparagus, sauteed greens and other dishes over the last few weeks, but I had recently read that ramps go well with eggs and I was hooked on the idea. Above is the cutting board loaded up with sliced ramps up top (leaves separated from cleaned bulbs), sliced shiitake on the left, on the bias sliced asparagus on the bottom and farm fresh eggs in the middle.

The ramps were foraged by a friend of mine and his friend, LJ and Lou, in Chester County. Where you ask? They could tell you, but then they'd surely have to kill you – perhaps even before they told you. Locations for ramps, which grow wild, are like old family recipes or locations for chanterelle and morel mushrooms. Closely guarded secrets which one can enjoy the fruits of, but never can the secrets be revealed. The asparagus from Buzby Farm in South Jerz. The shiitake from the mushroom capital of the world, Kennett Square. The eggs from the man with 16 heritage breeds of pastured hens, Mark Skinner of Natural Meadows Farm.

I melted some unsalted butter in a pan and dropped in the ramp bulbs (3 or 4) to cook for a minute and then added in the asparagus slices (3 or 4 spears). A pinch of fleur de sel and fresh cracked pepper are added to the mix. Let the ingredients cook for another minute and add in a handful of sliced shiitake (I have big hands and love the strong flavor of shiitake) and another pat of butter into the pan. Toss them around for another minute. Sometime around when you add the mushrooms to the pan, start up another flame for your eggs. I love cast iron for eggs and I cook them in unsalted butter, always. Lightly beat the eggs with some salt and pepper and few sprigs of chopped chives if you have them handy. Once the pan is hot, pour in the eggs and stir them around a bit to get them cooking. Slivered up some Hillacres Pride habanero cheddar with a veggie peeler and spread it over the cheese. Now I add in the ramp leaves to the pan of veggies to wilt them. Above is a shot of all the veggies removed from heat for a sec for me to get a pic in.

After a final minute of sauteeing, add all the veggies atop the eggs and let them warm up the cheese below. Fold over the other edge and presto, you've got an omelet fit for a king.