OLS week #9

I haven't been this excited all summer folks. This week, my local meal featured....PIG!


I go up to LA at least once every two months, mostly cajoled by a group of friends who come up with one excuse or another to lure us up there. By default, I often end up crashing at a friends studio apartment in West Hollywood. Little did I know until my last trip up there that there is a Sunday morning farmers' market less than a mile from his house!

I was lucky enough to stay with some gracious family friends of a friend two weeks ago, who live in the Hollywood hills. Well into our Saturday evening, after a delicious dinner and a considerable amount of wine, they mentioned they were going to the farmers' market early the next morning, inviting anyone daring enough to wake up at 8 the next morning to come along. "Ooh, I'll come with you," I piped up. I think they were surprised when I held true to my promise the next morning.

The Hollywood farmers' market--the largest farmers' market in LA I'm told--puts any farmers' market I've gone to to shame. In size alone, it spans at least 10 city blocks, a size which is only matched by annual street fairs in San Diego, not weekly events. Giddy with delight, I quickly got lost in the myriad of booths, gladly accepting samples, stopping where ever I could to talk with farmers and vendors. Entering with $40 in my wallet--an amount I knew I could spend quite quickly--I decided to only purchase goods that I had not come across in San Diego. That ruled out most of the tempting, gorgeous produce, although it didn't stop me from looking and drooling. Then I came across Rocky Canyon Farms.

Three coolers sat in a row, each swarmed by crowds of people, looking through the frozen, individually vacuum sealed pieces of meat inside. A price sheet in front of each cooler suggested what lay inside--steaks, chops, ribs. I patiently waited my turn, eagerly digging my hands into the cold packages in each cooler. I emerged, delighted with two plump pork chops, a ham hock, a pound of shoulder bacon and a package of beef short ribs (the steaks, of course, all looked tempting, but would with my $40 budget would have put an end to my spending). Continuing down the line, I found another gem--dried beans. Armed with red beans and black beans, I continued on, grabbing a bottle of apple cider vinegar, and because I couldn't help myself, a basket of baby artichokes and another of brussel sprouts.

Unfortunately, I forgot the veggies in a fridge in LA. The meat and beans, however, gloriously made the drive home. I've gone all summer, disappointingly, without local meat, and this was cause for celebration. Inspired, here's what became of my LA farmers market finds:

Pan-seared pork chops with red wine fig reduction
Corn, shoulder bacon, and tomato stuffed zucchini
Pork and maple baked beans

Pan-seared pork chops with red wine fig reduction
A few days before I planned to prepare the pork chops, I stumbled upon the most delicious figs I'd tasted in my life. Determined to pair the two together, I was disappointed to find many of the fig + pork chop recipes I came across used chicken stock in the sauce (here and here). In searching for an alternative to using stock I came across this, a dessert recipe that served figs in a red wine reduction. Thus my recipe was born.

Figs and Red Wine Reduction
fresh zest from one lemon
6 black peppercorns
1 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup dry red wine
1/3 cup water
2 tbsp sugar

1 shallot, diced
4 fresh Calimyrna figs, cut into sixths
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1 tsp honey

Tie zest and peppercorns together in a cheesecloth bag. Bring wine, water, sugar, cinnamon and cheesecloth bag to a boil in a 1 1/2-quart heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil syrup until reduced to about 1 1/2 cups, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat and reserve. When pork is done, remove pork from pan, add 1/2 tbsp butter, shallot and cook for 1-2 minutes, unitil soft. add reduction and bring to boil. Add figs, reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered 5-10 minutes. Remove figs and cheesecloth bag and stir lemon juice, honey and 1 tbsp butter into fig mixture. continue to simmer until spoon leaves clean trail across bottom of pan. Spoon figs atop pork chops and drizzle with sauce.

Pan Seared Pork Chops--This recipe is a classic--I simply followed the recipe in America's Test Kitchen Cookbook, which involves nothing than a good skillet, oil, and the chops (the flavor is in the sauce you choose to use). Simply heat oil on high, sear chops on one side for 3 minutes until browned; flip, reduce heat to medium, and cook until meat registers 135 degrees. Take the chops out of the pan, cover with foil, and make the reduction sauce in the same pan. By the time the sauce is done, the chops will have risen to 145 degrees and are ready to serve.

stuffed zucchini

3 zucchini
1/2 red onion
1 small carrot
5 cherry tomatoes
2 ears corn
5 slices shoulder bacon, diced
1 tbsp fresh basil
1 tsp honey

salt

pepper

preheat oven to 375. scoop out zucchini, discard flesh. heat 1 tbsp oil, cook bacon over medium heat 3 minutes, add onion and carrot. add corn and cherry tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes. add basil, salt pepper, and 1 tsp honey. remove from heat. toss zucchini boats with 1 tbsp oil, salt and pepper, place on oiled baking sheet and cook for 10 minutes, uncovered. remove from oven, fill boats with corn mixture and cook for 15 minutes, covered. uncover and cook for 5-10 minutes more until zucchini is tender.

pork shoulder and maple baked beans

I actually prepared these baked beans as part of my local meal for week 8 (which I haven't had the time to post); a few days later I simply reheated them to accompany this weeks meal. The only unlocal ingredient for me was maple syrup--I couldn't resist (I have a bottle of the good stuff, from Vermont, in my pantry). The recipe is again culled from my favorite reliable source, the America's Test Kitchen cookbook--I hope to post it later this week.