versatility

Two weeks ago, Delicious Orchards had beets on sale. My husband and I love beets. Usually I'll make Harvard Beets for him. However, sometimes I find roasting vegetables enhances their flavor better than steaming or boiling.

​There is a salad that I like to make that appeared in Bon Appétit's magazine in January 2001 called salad of winter greens, walnuts, roasted beets and goat cheese that has roasted beets in it. It's  a wonderful salad with different flavors hitting all different tastes in your mouth. There's the tartness of the fresh orange juice, the pungency of the goat cheese, the smooth texture of the roasted beets, and the crunchiness from the toasted walnuts all coming together for a mouthful explosion of flavors. 

While this recipe calls for baby lettuces with frisée, I've have made it using spring greens and tonight I used romaine and red leaf lettuce. It was a nice change from the norm. My daughter, who is visiting for a few days enjoyed it too. 

To go along with this salad, I tried a recipe which I found in the Penzys' spice catalog. The recipe is apples, onions and pork chops. I purchased locally raised boneless pork chops from Wegmans on Sunday that were just under $8/lb. As I forgot my daughter was coming, I purchased a bone-in pork chop from Whole Foods for $6.99/lb. As pork is so lean these days, I used Williams-Sonoma Classic Quick Dry Brine to make for a more juicy piece of meat. 

What made this dish so appealing with the combination of sautéed white onions and apples and fresh apple cider. My daughter brought down from her CSA box a Jonagold apple and I had frozen Delicious Orchards apple cider in my freezer. What a great combination of flavors in this dish. The pork chops from Wegmans and Whole Foods were moist and tender. The apples, onions and apple cider gave this a great foil to the pork.

So if you are craving something different for your pork chops, I high recommend this recipe. My husband, daughter and I thoroughly enjoyed this preparation.