Seared Pork Chops with Garlic Scape Chimichurri

One of my favorite parts of our CSA box is the garlic scapes. I love these elegant tender curls. Often I'll sautee them up like green beans. Or add them to a morning omelet with feta and whatever herbs tagged along in that week's box. But lately I've been coming across many scape pesto and chimichurri recipe and thought I'd give one a go.

I'd much rather grill these chops over an open flame than sear them in the pan, but the endless rain we've had this summer has put a damper on much of our grilling plans. Ah well, seared chops work in a pinch.

Pick thick-cut bone-in chops with a lot of marbling. Pork is a much leaner meat than beef and needs the extra fat, unless you want to end up with a tough and chewy chunk of meat. Rib chops...center cut of the loin...seem to grill up among the best. Thick cut helps keep them from drying out too quickly. And the bone? Well, honestly, I just enjoy gnawing the last bit of flavor off of the bone.

Enjoy!

adapted from The Brook Cook

serves 5

The Ingredients
for the chimichurri
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
3 Tbsp fresh, chopped
3 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
1 green onion, thinly sliced
4 to 6 garlic scapes, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup olive oil

for the chops
5 thick cut bone-in pork loin chops
generous pinch of salt and pepper
1 Tbsp oil

The Process
for the chimichurri
Combine the herbs, green onion, garlic scapes, lemon juice, salt, and red pepper flakes in a food processor. Purée. With the food processor still running, drizzle in the olive oil. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Chimichurri will keep in the fridge, covered, for up to a week.

for the chops
Generously season the chops with salt and pepper. Heat a large cast iron skillet over high heat. Add the oil and reduce heat to medium-high. Add the chops and sear 3 to 5 minutes, with out moving. Flip and cook until meat is just cooked through, about 3-4 minutes more.

Alternatively, grill the chops...searing 1-2 minutes per side over direct heat until a golden crust forms. Move the chops to indirect heat and cook an additional 4-5 minutes per side or until the internal temperature reaches 135-140 degrees F.

Let rest 5 minutes before serving. Serve topped with chimichurri.

Picnic Pesto Pasta Salad

A few days ago I got fed up with arugula and turned a huge bunch of it into a very tasty pesto.  However, it is also a very potent pesto.  So its consumption has been slow.  Thankfully, a picnic party presented itself.  Potluck style.  Perfect.

Presto...Picnic presto pasta.

The salad recipe is my own, using Driftless Organic's arugula pesto recipe

serves 8-10


The Ingredients:
16 oz dry farfelle, rigatoni or other pasta of your choice
2 Tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup pesto
1 1/2 cup fresh or previously frozen peas
1 large red bell pepper, cut julienne
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup green olives, sliced
2 Tbsp capers, drained
salt and pepper to taste


The Process:
Cook the pasta al dente and drain.  Transfer to a large bowl and toss with olive oil.  Add the remaining ingredients and mix until well combined.  Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.  Serve chilled or room temperature.

The Review:
The secret to this dish is truly in the pesto.  So use your favorite variety.  I am a huge advocate of homemade whenever possible...that and I had a ton of leftover pesto...but many a store bought variety with suffice.  I love the salty, briny flavors added by the olives and capers, coupled with the sweet crunch of the peppers and tomatoes.

One of the best things about dishes like this is its adaptability.  Throw in whatever veggies you want...broccoli, artichoke hearts, zucchini...

Or a bit of meat?  Why not.  Leftover rotisserie chicken or even bites of salami would work wonderfully.  

Everybody has a favorite combination..

What's yours?

Arugula and Garlic Scape Pesto

Enough with the arugula, please!  Every week for the past month we've been blessed with an incredibly large bag of the peppery greens.  But there's only some much of it I can handle!  Our farm has promised this to be the last bunch (for a while, if not for the season).  The ridiculously hot and dry weather that part of the state has been dealing with resulted in the arugula all coming ready far before expected.

This batch, this possible last bundle, was full of large mature leaves even more fragrant then baby greens we'd been treated to earlier.  Taking the farm's suggestion, I turned this last bunch into a pesto. 

recipe courtesy of Driftless Organics

yields about 2 cups

The Ingredients:
1 cup garlic scapes  cut into 1" pieces
 2 cups chopped arugula, lightly packed
1/2 cup almonds, toasted
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper
1/3 cup olive oil

The Process:
Combine everything but the oil in a food processor and pulse into a coarse paste. Add oil in a thin stream while the processor is going. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to a week or freeze.

The Review:
Now that you have that bright green concoction, how do you use it?  First I tried a spoonful and was wowed by how the usually subtle flavor of the scapes came forward.

Next we tired is tossed with pasta.  A little bit of pesto went a very long way.  The flavor was bright and grassy...rounded out with the rich, but not overwhelming garlic.


How else?  Straight up with fresh veggies.  Not bad...but the strong flavor of the pesto was a bit much for the delicate red pepper and snap peas.  WAY too peppery served with raw radish, but worth the try.

Spread on buttered bread and broiled?  Amazing.

Mixed with a bit of cream cheese and scooped up with celery...a much better alternative with raw veggies than served straight up.

So many ways...so many things to try.

I'm a little disappointed I didn't start making pesto with the arugula earlier!

Minnesotan Midsummer Minestrone

Right around 2 or 3pm everyday my mind begins to wander.  My eyes drift out over the beautiful vista of the Stone arch bridge and the Mississippi River.  The occasional eagle soars overhead.  Segway tours, joggers and bikers meander on the paths below.  And I day dream...

About what to make for dinner.

It never fails really.  Shortly after lunch, my stomach begins to gurgle again as my mind turns to food.  Recently the thoughts circle around how to use up the last bit of vegetables before our next CSA box arrives (time to start blanching, bagging and freezing some of those veggies).  Stir frys and salads are quick, easy and reliable.

But this evening I had soup on the brain...

the recipe is my own

serves 8-10


The Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil
2-3 stalks of celery, sliced
1 medium onion, diced
2-3 medium carrots, diced
4-5 garlic scapes, cut in to 1 inch lengths
1 bunch salad turnips and greens, turnips diced, greens chopped
2 Tbsp fresh sage, cut chiffonade
2 Tbsp fresh parsley, minced
1 - 14 oz can stewed tomatoes
4 cups vegetable, chicken or beef stock
2 cups water
1 - 14 oz can black or kidney beans, drained and rinsed
salt and pepper to taste

The Process:
In a large soup kettle, heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the celery, onions and carrots.  Saute until the onion and celery are tender, about 5-7 minutes.  Stir in the garlic scapes, herbs, and turnips (reserve the greens for later) and cook an additional 2-3 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, broth and water.  Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the turnips and carrots are tender.   Add the beans, simmering for 10 minutes until  the beans are heated through.  Add the reserved turnip greens.  Stir until wilted.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

The Review:
What a wonderful, deep flavor.  The onion, celery and stewed tomatoes provided a base that was refreshingly familiar.  The sage was nearly indiscernible among the other veggie flavors.  The turnips added a wonderful oomph and were cooked to near perfection...tender with just a touch of bite left.  The garlic scapes cooked down and little more than I would have liked during a 20 minutes simmer, but lent an amazing hint of garlic.  I adore minestrone.  Mostly because any veggie combination would work.  Want pasta? okay.  Don't like beans? Leave them out.  Well this may not be the best soup for a sweltering summer day (but really what soup is when the heat index break 100), but it really does hit the spot.