A neighbor of mine gave me a huge gallon ziplock bag full of Mortmorency cherries from his friend’s tree in exchange for a kombucha scoby. Having never worked with fresh tart cherries before I knew I was in for a treat. I immediately went to Pinterest, Google and my standby, The Flavor Bible, for some ideas. Here’s dinner tonight, adapted from a recipe I found on the Cherry Marketing Institute website.
Ingredients
- 4 grass-fed pork chops
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1 cup whole Montmorency tart cherries (defrosted if frozen)
- 1/2 cup red wine (I used Zinfindel – don’t use wine in cooking you wouldn’t happily drink!)
- 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed rosemary
- 1 teaspoon arrowroot powder
Directions
Bring pork out of the refrigerator to warm slightly.
In a medium saucepan, stir together the tart cherries, red wine, orange juice, maple syrup and rosemary. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 10 minutes. Whisk in the arrowroot and turn off heat, allowing the sauce to gel slightly.
Turn the oven on broil.
Prepare chops by seasoning with salt and pepper. Broil for 5-7 minutes per side for thin chops or 8-10 minutes per side for thicker chops. Plate the pork chops, spooning cherry reduction over each one.
Serves 4.
