One of our fave pork dishes is Blackberry Sage Pork Chops, pan fried and then braised to tender, tasty perfection.
Well…
I had some nice bourbon brown sugar barbecue sauce leftover from making Super Bowl Nachos, and I got to wondering how that would translate replacing the blackberry preserves.
Quite nicely, as it turns out.
INGREDIENTS
Chops:
•2 thick cut bone-in pork shops
•Steak seasoning
•1 tbsp olive oil or butter
Sauce:
•1/2 cup BBQ Sauce
•1 tbsp butter
•1 tbsp Sherry Peppers Sauce*
•1 tbsp water
•1/2 tsp dried sage
•1/4 tsp black pepper
•1/4 tsp Aleppo pepper
•1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
*No Sherry Peppers Sauce? No Problem! Simply add a bit of decent sherry (none of that “cooking” stuff) and a dash or three of your fave hot sauce, to taste.
Season the pork chops with your preferred steak seasoning and heat the oil or butter in a large skillet over medium high heat.
Add the pork chops, seasoned side down, and cook for four minutes.
Season the top of the chops, then turn over and cook for another four minutes, until both sides are nicely browned.
Remove the chops to a plate and reduce the heat to medium low.
Stir in the sauce ingredients, scraping the bottom of the pan to gather any of those tasty browned bits stuck to the bottom of the skillet, then whisk for about five minutes, until the sauce is nicely blended and thickened a bit.
Return the chops to the pan, spoon some of the sauce over each, then cover the skillet and cook for another ten minutes or so, basting the chops a couple of times, until they are cooked through and tender, and the sauce has thickened a bit.
Remove from the heat and let rest for five minutes before serving.
We totally enjoyed ours with the contessa’s roasted potatoes and a salad on the side.
So…
Barbecue Sage Pork Chops or Blackberry?
Options are always a good thing.
As most all of our friends and family know, “we do not follow teh golf,” which meant that this past weekend and all the brouhaha mostly slipped by unnoticed chez nous.
Note: this (very good) platter of tasty-ness came courtesy of a delivery from Gold Belly (my husband had a coupon, so the price wasn’t too, too bad). The thing is, and I cannot stress this enough, the instructions included with the kit were the first time making nachos at home has really made 
sense to me, and the results were so good that, kit or no, and am ready to make them again; just next time for a few more folx, or at least in a smaller batch.
•Sliced onion
Heat your oven to 400º (I used my oven’s Convection Roast setting to get a bit of broiler action involved) and line a large, rimmed baking pan with foil.
Stir in the pulled pork (included with the kit, or use your own fave) and a bit of barbecue sauce, then heat through. Keep warm.
Remove from the oven, top with the pico de gallo, sliced jalapeño, and onion before drizzling with sour cream.
I have been making pickled avocado for a while now, tt is a great way of adding a little sumpin’ sumpin’ to your appetizer board or salad, and I was planning on using this batch as a topping on a 
“Why not try this with my avocados?”
INGREDIENTS
Remove from the heat and set aside to cool for thirty minutes or so.
Cover tightly and stash in the fridge for at least two hours before serving.
Back in December, one of our local markets had a Buy One, Get One Free deal on boneless pork roasts, and I took ’em up on it. I cannot recall exactly what I did with the first roast back in the day, but the second got stashed in one of the freezers.
Note: I have done a 
•1 pork loin roast, cooked*
Slice your leftover cooked roast pork, then cut each slice into strips and place in a large bowl with some of the barbecue sauce.
Toss the pork in the sauce to lightly coat, then set aside to rest for thirty minutes.
Arrange your pork strips in a single layer on the parchment lined tray, and air fry for about eleven minutes.
Prepare your salad kit according to package directions. After the first toss, I thought that this particular kit was a bit light on the included poppy seed dressing, so added a dollop of ranch and tossed it all again.
As I’ve said before, one of my local markets has a very nice salmon supplier – on par with our fave fish monger, but less pricey – and also offer their fillets with options; seasoned, cedar plank, etc.
INGREDIENTS
*You can use 
About 30 minutes before you plan to cook the salmon, arrange the fillets (skin side down) in a single layer in another flat bottomed container and sprinkle the steak seasoning evenly over the top.
Heat your air fryer to 400º and line your air fryer tray with parchment paper, remove the cedar plank(s) from the water, and arrange in a single layer on the parchment. If you are cooking for a crowd, you may need to to this in shifts.
Place each marinated fillet on a cedar plank, and top with barbecue sauce.
Waaay back in 2005, I loved the novel “Julie and Julia” by Julie Powel.
I will admit that it took me 13 years or so to remember to try it, but, believe it or not, braised celery is a pretty nifty side dish, as I used it originally, or, as I did in this case, as an add-in to some yellow rice to go with air fried salmon.
INGREDIENTS
Note: because this was not going to be a full side, but an add-in to rice, I made a half batch this time.
Stir in the stock and the Sherry Peppers Sauce, reduce the heat to low, then cover and simmer for five minutes.
My mom-in-law’s winter visit has gone pretty well. I have learned her distaste for bread crusts on sammiches, and preference for eating most meals with a soup spoon. Some dinners, she has flat out not cared for, but this one, a baby spinach salad and honey walnut shrimp from the freezer case at one of my markets, got a whole hearted “this is really good!” response, so…
INGREDIENTS
•1/4 tsp steak seasoning
Extra:
Earlier this month, I made one our fave comfort meals, 
Yeh! We can do this!
•2 cloves garlic, minced
•1/2 tsp steak seasoning
Cook, stirring often, for about ten minutes, until the onions are tender.
This is one of those “impossible” pies, made with biscuit mix and cooked ground beef and eggs and cheese and milk and such.
Credit where it is due, the entire series of “Impossible” pies comes to us from the nice folx at Bisquick. For this batch, I was looking for Krusteaz version of the mix, but the market I was in only had Bisquick and this Old Country Store mix, which I opted to try out.
INGREDIENTS
Batter:
*No Sherry Peppers Sauce? No Problem! Simply add a bit of decent sherry (none of that “cooking” stuff) and a dash or three of your fave hot sauce, to taste.
Whisk the eggs together with the milk and the hot sauce in a bowl, then stir in the biscuit mix in increments, I went 1/4 cup at a time, and stir until blended.
Bake for 25 minutes, then remove from the oven and scatter the shredded cheese evenly over the top.
So, no. This is not an authentic recipe.
Imma keep making this soup; just not so much for her anymore.
INGREDIENTS
To start with, I began my version by sneaking in extra veggies, by was of sautéeing some coleslaw mix and baby spinach in a tablespoon of olive oil until the cabbage is wilted.
Slowly whisk about 1/4 cup of the soup into the frothed egg until well blended. This will keep the egg from curdling and give your finished soup a creamy texture.