Pork Chops with Fresh Cherry Chutney
What to do with eight pounds of cherries? After our trip to Dutchess County, I wanted to use some of the cherries we picked from Barton Orchard in some kind of sauce. There’s no avoiding using cherry preserve in this recipe–it helped make the fresh cherries a little more sweet than tart. The allspice and the cumin gave the chutney a really nice flavor. I added some chili flakes just to give it that small spike in taste. I think I’ll make more chutney now with the summer fruits in the market.
Ingredients:
6 pieces boneless pork chops
2 cups fresh cherries
3/4 cup of black cherry preserve
1 red onion, finely chopped
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp of ground allspice
1 tsp of ground cumin
red pepper flakes
salt, pepper, olive oil1. Pit cherries. Using the flat side of a large knife, press on the cherry gently until it splits open while covering with your other hand so there isn’t juice spitting all over the place. Pull out the pits.
2. Make cherry chutney. In a small bowl, mix cherry preserve, vinegar and allspice. Set aside 1/4 cup of mixture to glaze pork. Then in a saucepot, sauté onions until transparent. Add pitted cherries, red chili flakes and the rest of the cherry preserve mixture. Boil in medium-low heat until thick, stirring often. Season with salt.
3. While making the cherry chutney, sprinkle the pork with salt and pepper. On a hot grill, cook pork for about 8 minutes on each side. Brush the top part of the pork with some of the cherry glaze you set aside. Turn to cook the other side and glaze the other side as well.
4. Transfer to a plate and rest for about 10 minutes. Serve with the fresh cherry chutney.
Related post/s:
It’s a bitch to clean, but I’m loving my Le Creuset square skillet grill
I picked my own cherries from Barton Orchard in Dutchess County
Yes, yes, yes! I also was in the mood for a chutney type thingy. Two nights ago, I had been up all night grading essays written by my 170 high school English students. It was about 4:30 a. m. I thought to me self, Self, you got a nice homemade cranberry sauce (cranberries that have been made into a sort of chutney with turbinado sugar and some star anise) and those nice frozen pitted cherries that you got in the Russian deli on Broadway and 190th Street. So, I nuked the frozen pitted cherries for about two and half minutes in the microwave. Then, I mixed the slightly slushy mixture into the cranberry sauce. Mmmmmm. Dug in. Yummy. Oh no. Not. It turns out that when I had bought the cherries in the deli, I had accidentally bought not cherries but nice plump raw chicken hearts that were now half thawed raw chicken hearts mixed with cranberrry sauce. Oh. Oh. Oh. Still, I have not given up on fruit chutneys.
I *suppose* heart-shaped cherries can look like heart-shaped chicken hearts… or did you mean chicken livers? Oy, that’s a whole different kind of chutney!
Hi Cia, well, unfortunately, they really did put these lovely chicken hearts next to the pitted sour cherries. I actually chewed and swallowed a mouthful of this mixture. Oy is right. By the way, where should I go to in the Phillipines this summer? And also, have you read the book VIAJERO by F. Jose Sionil? My seniors read part of it in their Asian Literature Class this past spring.
I actually like chicken liver for pate and chicken hearts for a chicken version of the Filipino bopis dish. (Use this recipe and use them instead of the pig’s http://www.writingwithmymouthfull.com/2006/04/25/filipino-bopis-pig-heart-recipe/)
Viajero is an awesome book. It’s one of those books every Filipino should read, especially Filipino-Americans.
gregor samsa.
indeed, viajero is a great book.
if you have time/money, i suggest you visit quiapo, intramuros, and other places written in the book viajero.
Thank you Ibalik, thank you Cia for a great site. (I find inspiration here.)