Text 18615, 130 rader
Skriven 2008-12-28 15:19:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av DAVE DRUM
Ärende: Re: Natural Farms
=========================
-=> Quoting Dave Drum to Ruth Haffly <=-

 DD> They aren't necessarily going for "organic" status. Just natural,
 DD> sustainable farming with the attendant quality of product that that
 DD> brings.
 
 RH> And in the proccess, it is pretty much organic.
 
 DD> Yes, 'tis. Just not "official" with bureaucratic approval.   Bv)=
 
 RH> But it means they can't officially advertise as being "approved"
 RH> organic.  That can hurt the profit line.

 DD> Brother Leka doesn't care. He is making out all right in the pecuniary
 DD> line and doesn't have to muck about with all that gummint paperwork.
 DD> Nor remain especially vigilant about things encroaching on his
 DD> operation that could affect the "organic" certification.

That is pretty much the way Dutch farmer Bill operates. He is nearly
organic but uses some artificial aids as required if they make
sense.

 DD> Not to mention that the people who buy from him and pay premium prices
 DD> know the quality and don't care one jot nor tittle what the gummint
 DD> considers "organic".

During the Asian currency crisis of 1997 the price of pork plummeted
as our exports dropped off. The market price of a finished pig
dropped from something like $1.90 to $0.40/kg by 1999, way below the
price of production. Bill raises just a half dozen pigs, mostly so
he can dispose of culled turnips and potatoes. He has five customers
for his heavy, well-fatted, mature pigs and charges $250 year after
year. One of his five regulars queried why his price stayed so high
in '99. He responded, "I'm not a pig farmer so I don't have to loose
money. If you don't take it I'll just eat two this year." The guy
paid up.

MMMMM-----Meal-Master - formatted by MMCONV  2.10

     Title: Fennel Stuffed Pork Chops
Categories: Pork
  Servings: 2

      1    pork chop, 2 inches thick,
           -bone in
    1/2    head of fennel
    1/2    onion
           garlic
           olive oil
           S&P
      6    thyme sprigs
      1    bacon strip

Simple, meaty and nearly foolproof: true to it's name, this is just
a thick pork chop that is slit open and stuffed with diced fennel
and such, that is pan seared for flavor and then finished in the
oven. It's uncomplicated and easy because the risk of overcooking
nice pork is counter balanced by the moist interior stuffing that,
in and of itself, is good tasting enough to make even a bland pork
chop taste real nice and will keep the chop from getting too tough.
This feature makes it perfect for that all important third date
dinner and sex sort of thing. Even if your mind is in the other
person's pants you're pretty likely to come away with at least a
passable dinner piece. Before we go any farther we should talk
briefly about your pork chop.

It should be bone-in, about 2 inches thick and be the best quality
you can find. If you're going to pay some extra dollars for the
Berkshire stuff now is the time.

You should split them with a good sharp knife. Go all the way to the
bone on the top.

Now for the stuffing: Pretty easy. Just fine dice half a fennel
head, half a onion and some garlic and saute with a small amount of
olive oil. Don't let it go too long. Just make everything slightly
soft so that if you ate it out of the pan it wouldn't taste raw. Add
some salt and pepper (more than you might normally as this salt will
also be seasoning the meat on the inside) and fresh thyme (5-6
sprigs stripped of their tiny leaves).

While you're at it you should cut the other half of the fennel and
onion into half moons about 1/8" for later.

Stuffing? Ready.

The next step is to brown the outside of the chops in a hot pan with
a little bit of olive oil. The olive oil is going to help you get a
nice brown crust and it's my new favorite pan-cooked steak move. Now
that your chops have browned 3-4 minutes on each side and you have
let them cool you can now get your stuff on. Don't go totally crazy
as it will make the pork chop take longer to come up to temp. I
found that the amount that the 1/2 a fennel bulb and 1/2 onion gives
is just about right for a nice sized pork chop with a generous sized
slit in it.

After you're done stuffing you can really get porky by tieing the
chop shut with a THIN strip of bacon. Mother of God!

Before you start stuffing the chops you'll want to pre-heat your
oven to 350' or 375' so that when you're done you can just throw the
whole lot in the oven to finish cooking for 17-20 minutes.

I did 17 minutes and the pork chop turned out perfectly done. It was
tender, slightly pink but not creepy. As you can see here I took the
rest of the onions and fennel and put them in the pan to braise with
the soon to be rendered juices of the cooking chop.

While you're waiting you can flirt with your object of desire and
maybe saute up a nice hearty green like kale or cabbage with some
shallots and deglazed with cider vinegar a la collard greens. The
vinegar will cut the fat and richness of the chop so that you can
get motivated after dinner.

Put this with a cheap light red.

Posted by tom.murder.murder.marcyville

From: The Grocery Guy
 
MMMMM-------------------------------------------------

Cheers

YK Jim


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