A couple of weeks ago, over coffee, my friend Sharon passed along this very elegant, simple and autumnal dinner idea: Empty half a bag of cranberries (rinsed and sorted, of course) into a baking dish, sprinkle a bunch of sugar on top of that, add a layer of 3-4 pork chops, and add remaining berries and another layer of sugar, cover dish with foil, bake at 350 for one hour.
Sounded like a champion weeknight dinner to me. I actually made it Saturday night, using thick boneless chops and it baked alongside a sunshine squash. Dubious, I did add a half-cup of water to pork and berry mixture.
On the positive side, by the time the baby was asleep in his crib, I had a beautiful crimson, steaming dish was ready to serve.
The berries added tremendous excitement to this simple dish, and here’s why: I used far less sugar than one would put in traditional cranberry compote — no more than a 1/3 cup, I guesstimate. It wasn’t sweet and that was actually a good thing. I experienced cranberries in a whole new way. Baking tempered the fruit’s’ aggressive, face scrunching tartness. Flavored with pork fat and juices, it became this a lovely dry but slightly savory sauce that just shouted of all things autumn.
As for the meat, it was well-cooked, but tough and tasteless as cardboard. My thoughts: I would brine the pork for an hour. Serving time for a weeknight meal would be later, but really no less inconvenient.
This dish could be a winner, folks. So, reader, I invite you to ponder, experiment and report back.
It so happens that I have my own pork experiment going on as we speak. I’ve got a pork loin roast in the crock pot, with requisite potato chunks and carrots. Usually I just would let that go in it’s own juices, but today I tried something different. I poured 3/4c of apple cider over, and then seasoned with a bay leaf, a few shakes of tarragon, and a healthy sprinkling of allspice. We’ll see how it turns out.
Also? The parents-in-law are coming over tonight. I am therefore violating Jen’s “don’t do experiments when people are coming over” rule. I just can’t help it, most of the time.
I’ll try and remember to post back how it goes.
Hi Amy —
Thanks for writing! I openly — but respectfully — disagree with Jen’s rule … I think experimenting when company’s coming adds energy and zest to the event. Sometimes, your intuition can lead you to amazing places, even in the kitchen.
I’ll always remember the drizzly spring evening I made polenta lasagna for my friends Katie and Mike, who stopped by while driving cross country. That was the first and last time I made it, but it was delicious, and the singleness of that dish punctuates the nice memories of that visit.
If it doesn’t work out, just laugh it off and order pizza … unless these are the sort of guests where playing it safe is more important.
Your pork roast sounds delicious! You must indeed report back!
Jodi
Well, the pork roast was a rousing success! The cider kept it quite moist, and infused it with a lovely blossoming flavor. It didn’t scream “apples” or anything, but it just had that little extra brightness to it. It turned out that the allspice I sprinkled over the top stayed there because the cooking juices never got that high in my crock pot (I have a new, larger capacity crock pot and I didn’t know to expect this). Consequently, the allspice formed this spicy sweet crust on the top, like a dry rub.
I served it along side the carrot and potato chunks that cooks in the cider-broth with the roast and some steamed green beans done in the micro.
If my DH wasn’t so opposed to dried fruit (eyeroll), I’d say that next time what it needs is the addition of some craisins softening down in that juice. Maybe next time I’ll sneak them in and see if he notices… ;o)
Sounds delicious! As for the craisins, DH can always pick them out, right?
I make a similar recipe, but in the crock-pot, so it’s ready whenever we want to eat, and the meat is anything but dry. Also, some cloves, allspice, and brown sugar are nice additions.
Great blog, by the way.