I like to cook. A lot. I like having bbq's, small dinners with friends, or just trying out something new for Denise and I. Unlike most people that like to cook I don't watch the food network, I don't own a recipe book, and I rarely try to recreate something that someone else has done because...well if I want to eat that I'll just go there. A few weeks ago I came up with a new recipe during a particularly boring microbiology lecture, and last night I finally got a chance to try it. It was certainly different, and turned out amazing. I think 4 plates with nothing but a couple shreds of carrot and bones is a good indication that my test subjects agreed with me.
Smoked apricot vinegarette over grilled chops, salad, fried potatoes and carrots
Smoked apricot vinegarette:
This is what made the dish. The rest of the stuff was very simple, and could pretty much be changed out with whatever vegetables you like. The sauce may work on chicken as well, but i think it's suited best for chops.
1lb apricots, cut in half and pitted, then smoked over low heat. I simply put a small pile of charcoal on one side of the grill, then topped it with some pecan chunks and put the apricots as far from the heat as possible. The idea here isn't to cook them, just get them stuffed with delicious smokey flavor.
While those are smoking, in a sauce pan, boil:
3c water
1/4c sugar
1/4c brown sugar
1/4c honey
1/4c rice wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp cloves
4 quarter sized medallions of ginger
Let this all reduce down until about a cup of the water is gone, fish out the cloves and ginger. At this point it will be almost unbearably sweet, that's ok. Grab the fruit off the grill and chop it up. You could puree it but at this point it's almost mush anyways so why dirty the extra dishes. Just running a knife through it a couple times was plenty. Add the apricots to the sugar and let it simmer for about 15 minutes then taste it. If it's still too sweet you can add some more vinegar to mellow it out some. Don't be afraid to leave it a little sweet though, it will be diluted down more when it's poured over the food. At this point, the sauce is done, let it sit over very low heat until you're ready to serve it, the time spent sitting there will just server to let the smoke flavor disperse evenly thoughout.
Potatoes and Carrots
I used 1 lb of yukon gold potatoes, quartered, then blanched for about 5 minutes.
Spread the potatoes out on a cookie sheet or something and set them aside for about 30 minutes to let most of the moisture out, this will allow them to crisp up more later.
In a screaming hot wok i melted a stick of butter, threw 1/2 lb of baby carrots and let them get started
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped go in
Add in the potatoes, salt and pepper to taste and cook until the carrots are done and you get some delicious crispy bits on the potatoes.
Grilled Pork Chops:
This was the easiest part, just used a simple rub of salt, thyme, and rosemary. Toss them on the grill and cook until done.
Once cooked put the chops on a bed of lettuce, add whatever salad vegetables you like. I went with red leaf lettuce, shredded carrots, and red onion.
Finally, top the chops and salad with the vinegarette. For finishing touches I topped the salad with walnuts, which balanced perfectly with the sweet dressing. For the chops a hefty pinch of french fried shallots.
When it was all said and done, I think the flavors all worked great together. The only changes i would make would clean up the presentation a bit. I would change the red leaf lettuce to a brighter green lettuce, and in place of the carrots and potatoes i would maybe substitute a basil parmesan broccoli, or grilled zucchini. The reason for these changes would be to get more color variety on the plate. The chops are brown, the sauce is brown/orange, orange carrots, and the dark red leaf lettuce made everything kind of run together visually.
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