Orange marinated pork chops with beet and orange sauce

The date today, the 11th August, has been rolling around my head with a vague familiarity that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Then it struck me. Nothing breathtakingly important, just that 12 years ago today, one of the most magnificent total eclipses of the sun occurred. The reason I remember this phenomena at all is because at the time I was honeymooning in Bali and in a strange twist of events, for once, my homeland was one of the best places to see it in the World. It was one of the only times I could have witnessed something great and was literally on the other side of the planet. 

Despite all the news coverage of TV cameras pointing in the wrong direction and cloudy skies, the thing that I remember the most is the British celebrity chef, Rick Stein, describing the menu he was going to serve during the actual event in his iconic restaurant in Cornwall. It all sounded so romantic with risotto in squid ink to represent the darkness during the eclipse and then a dessert of strawberries with some clotted cream (from a local farm with an incredibly enthralling Cornish name), to illustrate the return to colour and light. Even in events of great astronomical import, the details that I notice most are related to food.

Back to this post. Pork chops are a standby that I rarely choose. Not so much a standby as a cop out for me. I find them bland, dry and in need of some attention. A marinade or some brining helps and it's easy to fall back on old faithfuls with lemon, black pepper and mustard. Sometimes I stand in front of the open fridge with it's myriad of bottles and jars and can't see beyond the labels. Too many options to think about when dinner time is looming and hunger pangs are starting. What to do?

If you can soak the chops for as little as 30 minutes they will benefit and so, sighing, I contemplated a concoction. The orange juice looked interesting, a marinade based on that may just work. Recipe at bottom of post

My first homegrown produce, although 'produce' sounds far too fancy and misleading for a few Swiss chard leaves. These are 'cut and come again' veg, so there is no sadness of depreciating crops, just a temporary gap in the foliage.

They are very pretty with their multi-coloured stalks which you just know are brimming with vitamins and minerals. Growing them yourself makes you so proud, like rearing a child, every inch of the vegetable beautiful in your eyes. See that contrast between the pink of the stalk and the dark green of the leaf? I grew that.

I fried the leaves, shredded, with some spinach and the stalks cut into tiny slices. Just a little oil and butter and plenty of salt. They tasted 'green', that is mineral-y and briny, Neil eating his in one forkful to reap the benefits  but not linger on the taste. I liked them, although spinach does have a tendency to make your teeth feel furry.

Aside from the unusual marinade, redolent of orange juice with the flavours of mustard and earthy sage, the sauce I made was another experiment with strangeness. After boiling the beets in some water for a few moments to soften them, I was not surprised to find the water bright red, but was surprised at how much flavour it had absorbed from the beets. 

I mixed it with the orange juice marinade, added a few more ingredients and there it was, a tasty sauce both sweet and earthy with the most brilliant crimson hue. Plus all the veg had taken on the beet's leaked juices, staining the edges of the onions a vivid cerise. The only problem was the startling resemblance it had to blood and the reason why there is no gruesome image of it poured over the chop itself.

Recipe : Pork chops with roasted veg and beet orange sauce.

Marinade

2 or 3 thin cut pork chops

3/4 cup orange juice

2 shallots, thinly sliced

1 clove garlic, thinly sliced

3/4 tsp Dijon mustard

1/4 tsp lemon pepper

1/4 tsp salt

2 tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

Roasted Vegetables

3 tomatoes, quartered

4 small beets, peeled and quartered (make sure they are the dark red variety if you want pink vegetables and a crimson sauce).

1 red bell pepper, seeded, cored and cut into chunks

1 onion, peeled and cut into chunks

2 garlic cloves, left whole

2 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp salt

4 sprigs of rosemary

For the sauce

The water from the boiled beets (more on that later)

The marinade

1 tsp of chicken stock concentrate or 1/2 a chicken stock cube or a few tsp of your own home made stock

Mix the marinade ingredients together in a bowl, make a few slashes in the chops to absorb more and put the chops in a zip loc bag or in a bowl. Pour over the marinade and seal the bag tightly or cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for several hours if you can.

Place all the vegetables in a baking dish, pour over the oil and sprinkle over the salt, tucking the rosemary sprigs between the vegetables. Mix well.

Roast at 375oF for about 30 minutes then remove the beets to a small bowl, returning the rest of the vegetables to the oven.

Fill the bowl containing the beets with about 1/2 cup water and microwave on high for about 5 minutes until the beets are soft or, alternatively, boil the beets in a saucepan for around 20 minutes. Drain, reserving the bright red liquid and return the beets to the other veg in the oven to continue roasting for another 20 minutes or so.

Cook the chops, either frying or grilling (broiling), turning frequently until pale and cooked through.

To make the sauce, combine the beet juice and remaining marinade in a saucepan and bring to the boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium, add the stock and simmer until reduced and syrupy.

Serve the pork with the vegetables and pour the bright red gravy over everything.