Pork Chops with Cherry Wine Reduction Sauce

I always get a little antsy when it comes to waiting for things to come into season. Case in point: this recipe that boldly features cherries. And cherries are coming! They are. But right now it's May and cherry are still weeks away. 

That's the trouble with cherries--you spend so much time anticipating them, and when they finally come it's nearly impossible to make up for the rest of the year. You can eat them every day for a week straight but you still won't be sick of them. That's what waiting does -- it makes things even better than they are. 

But since we won't be dining on bags of cherry for months still, I made this cherry wine sauce, which used cherry preserves rather than fresh cherries and comes out of the pot sweet and tart and savory,  making you want to lick the spoon and the pot and everything else. What can I say? I'm impatient. 

Impatience doesn't always work out for the best, but this time it did. You know those cherries they put out at the store, loooong before cherry season begins? They're not really sweet, not quite a deep red, and not quite ripe yet? Don't buy those. You will be sad. Those no-yet cherries will spoil your appetite for cherry season early. But this sauce--oh, this sauce- it's just the beginning, and will have you licking your plate in glee. 

Serve it over seared pork chops, cauliflower mashers, a bed of spring arugula. Add a side of sautéed mushrooms. Dinner: 🙌

Pork Chops with Cherry Wine Sauce

Paleo, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free,    |   Caitlin Sherwood    

This sauce is perfect for when you’re ready for summer before it’s summer.

Serves: 4   |    Total Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 4 pork chops, thin cut
• 2 teaspoons coconut oil OR 2 pats butter
• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup cherry jam (I chose one that is 100% fruit)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 cup fruity red wine
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
• Optional: rosemary for garnish

Directions:

1. In a small sauce pan, heat 1 teaspoon or coconut oil (or half the butter) over medium heat until melted. Add the minced shallots and garlic, and sprinkle with the salt. Sauté until the shallots are transparent.
2. Add the wine and honey and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. Stir in the jam and the pepper until the jam is dissolved. Simmer for 10 more minutes until sauce has thickened. Sauce will coat a spoon once thickened.
4. Remove from heat and set aside while you cook the pork chops: heat the remaining coconut oil/butter in a large skillet. Heat over medium-high heat and swirl pan to coat in the oil. Pat the chops dry with a towel, and then place in pan. Sear on first side for 3 minutes (cook time is for thin-cut pork chops with no bone — extend this by a few minutes for thick-cut or bone-in chops) and then flip and cook on the second side for 3 more minutes, or until the meat is cooker through and no longer pink in the middle (check with a knife).
5. Serve pork chops hot and spoon cherry wine sauce over each chop. Optional: garnish with rosemary.

Crustless Spinach, Artichoke & Aged Cheddar Quiche

Update: This recipe has new photos as of 3/22/2019. Same recipe! :)

I am making a resolution right now, today. Will you join me? I'm resolving to have brunch more often. 

I recently looked at my calendar and realized a year ago, some of my closest friends had come over for a spring brunch and I had actually said, "We should do this every season. Like spring brunch, summer brunch-picnic, fall brunch, and winter brunch." They all nodded in agreement, delirious on mimosas, coffee, or maybe just morning air. It was settled. We were going to brunch more.

That was a year ago, and now I'm looking back thinking, what happened?? Brunch slipped through my fingers, as I got caught up in life and forgot the glory that is late morning. The smell of freshly brewed coffee? A plate full of quiche? Morning light trickling through a big window? All of these things make my heart sing. So this is my ode to brunch, and my resolution to brunch more: Spinach, Artichoke & Aged Cheddar Crustless Quiche.

Maybe with it written down, I'll actually make it happen. Will you brunch with me? For you, for your mornings? Just think of the late morning sun. 

Crustless Spinach, Artichoke & Aged Cheddar Quiche

Published February 15, 2016 by Caitlin Sherwood

Serves: 6   |    Active Time: 60 minutes

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Ingredients:

9 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup aged white cheddar cheese, shredded

1/2 pound frozen chopped spinach, thawed

1 can artichoke hearts, strained

1/2 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon coconut oil

Salt & Pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a pie pan, or line one with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Chopped artichoke hearts. Place artichokes and spinach in a mesh sieve and press the excess water out as best you can. This will help the quiche set. Place strained spinach and artichokes in a bowl.
3. Now, heat the coconut oil over medium heat in a skillet and sauté the diced onion and minced garlic until the onion is translucent. Use a spatula to scrape onions and garlic into bowl with spinach. Stir mixture until onion is well distributed, then sprinkle the mixture into the pie pan, in an even layer.
4. Next, sprinkle the cheese mixture in the pie pan in an even layer.
5. Whisk the eggs and milk until frothy. Add a sprinkle of salt and a few cracks of pepper. Pour mixture over filling in pie pan, ensuring there is egg mixture filling all spaces.
6. Place in middle wrack of oven and bake until golden and puffy, about 45 minutes. Center should be set and there should be no runny eggs. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

Prosciutto-Wrapped Mahi-Mahi

So I'm sitting on the couch right now, curled up next to Oliver while he watches his new favorite show. His show ends, and I ask him, "What ten foods would you pick if you could only have ten?" (Welcome to typical us). He starts his list right away, a couple of basics -- I do the same. We get about half way, and then our list building process slows down. We realize ten is not very many. We start to make more calculated selections. After we get to about seven items each, we stop all together. It's a good thing we don't live on a deserted island. 

What's on your Ten-Foods-On-A-Deserted-Island List? What about your top three? After a little more thought, I think I have my list. I'll probably look back at this a year from now (or maybe even next week?) and wonder what I was thinking, but for now, here it is:

1. White fish. Preferably Mahi-Mahi or Tilapia: they're both satisfying and when cooked they are perfectly flakey. They're also easy to cook (cod gets tough when cooked wrong, and if I'm on a deserted island I probably don't have a full kitchen). Not to mention, they're versatile! 

2. Broccoli. I've always adored broccoli. It was probably my second favorite vegetable when I was a kid, right after zucchini. It's good raw, it's delicious steamed, but it's best when it's roasted. Heck, you can turn it into soup! Maybe my love for the vegetable explains why this broccoli ad has a special place in my heart. 

3. Coconuts. All hail the coconut! Seriously, if I were stuck on an island, an everlasting supply of coconuts would be my savior: first, you get coconut water. Then, the milk -- glorious, glorious coconut milk! Finally, coconut meat and coconut oil. Four food items in one -- is that cheating? 

4. Cocoa powder. Did you think I was going to missing this one? Cocoa powder + coconut milk = 1 damn good glass of chocolate milk. I'd probably go crazy without my chocolate fix. 

5. Apples. I'm all about their sweet crunchy flesh. Evidence -- the many many apple recipe on this blog (like apple cinnamon roll porridge). 

6. Kabocha Squash. Even though Delicata Squash is my favorite squash, I think I would pick Kabocha. It has a satisfying, starchy quality that makes it taste rich. 

7. Salt. I'd like to take other seasonings with me too, but there are too many to choose from! Curry powder + coconut milk + fish could make a pretty good dinner, but I know that'd get old. I always love thyme, but that would get old too. So instead I'm keeping it simple: salt. 

8. Water. Do I have to say this? Can't this bee a free-be? Well, for anyone that thinks it must be included on your list if you want to consume it, I'm adding it to my list. Definitely wouldn't last long without water. 

9. Onions or Garlic. I'm not sure which one. Maybe onions? They add so much flavor to everything, but then, so does garlic. Which would you choose? 

10. Eggs. Ok, not only can eggs be cooked in so many different ways, they're also just the best breakfast food I can think of. If you have any doubts about this pick, just read Michael Ruhlman's book, Egg. 

Prosciutto-Wrapped Mahi-Mahi

Paleo, Primal, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free    |   Caitlin Sherwood    

Serves: 2   |    Total Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients:

• 2 5-ounce portions of Mahi-Mahi
• 3-ounces frozen spinach, thawed (about 1/3 of a typical package)
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• Salt & Pepper
• 2 slices prosciutto
• Mustard for seasoning
• 3 teaspoons coconut oil
• 1 pieces of baker’s twine, about 10 inches long each.

Directions:

1. Dice onion and mince garlic. Using your hands or a strainer, squeeze extra water out of the spinach. Heat 1 teaspoon of coconut oil in a medium sized skillet. Once oil is hot, add the onion to the pan, and sauté until transparent. Add garlic, and then spinach. Cook until the spinach is warmed through. Turn off the heat.
2. Assemble the fish: lay the slices of prosciutto out on a cutting board. Spread a thin layer of mustard over the middle section of the prosciutto (cover about 1/2 of the surface area— leaving 1/4 of the prosciutto untouched on each side). Place 1 fish filet on the top of the prosciutto, right where the mustard smear is. Season the fish lightly with salt & pepper. Finally, scoop a bit of spinach over the top of the fish, and spread into an even layer. Fold the ends of the prosciutto over the fish and tie closed using the bakers twine.
3. Heat the remaining 2 teaspoons of coconut oil in a medium sized skillet. Once sizzling, place fish in pan. Cook for 3 minutes, then flip. Cook for another 3-4 minutes, until fish is flakey and opaque. Serve immediately.