Spring has Sprung! Let's Make Beautiful Sunday Dishes with a Hint of Spring

Traditional Pork Piccata with Herb Roasted Potatoes 

& 

Beetroot Pickle

I came across a beautiful cut of Copperwood pork chops the other day and I just had them sitting in the freezer because I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do with them. 

Then I had an epiphany! I really didn't... 😍Bobby Flay😍 posted a super easy Pork Piccata recipe and I thought I should try it and so I did.

Like you, this was my first time making this dish. Honestly, if I am keeping it a buck, on a scale of one to dynamite, the flavors in this dish EXPLODED💥!

The greatest thing about this dish is how amazingly easy it is to prepare. "Piccata...I don't even know what that is...that doesn't sound easy, Danzii." Trust me, it's literally under an hour to prepare and another 20-30 minutes to meal prep. 

Please let me know if you've tried this and tell me about the taste! 

xoxo Danzii 

Total Prep Time: 60-90 minutes
Serves: 2


Ingredients

1-1.5lbs of CB Copperwood De-boned Pork Chops
1.5lbs of potatoes, uncooked and diced
6-7 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
3 tbsp parsley, chopped finely
1 tsp of sage (optional)
2 tsp ginger, sliced
8 pimento seeds, grounded
1 cucumber, peeled, cored and sliced thinly
1 medium carrot, sliced thinly
1 beetroot, sliced thinly
3 tbsp sugar
3 tsp cayenne pepepr
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp all purpose seasoning
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 cup dry white wine
2 tsp capers
6 tbsp butter
2-3 tbsp hot pepper jelly
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup tbsp vegetable oil
Salt
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

The Potatoes 

• With your potatoes diced, on high heat bring a pot of water to boil and add salt to taste. Add potatoes and ensure that the potatoes are completely submersed in the water. Cook for about 7 minutes. Do NOT over-boil! 

• In a small pot, over low heat, combine olive oil, chopped garlic and parsley for about 2 minutes. Do not allow the garlic to start browning!  
• Pre-heat oven to 200° Celsius or 390° Fahrenheit.
• Strain potatoes and empty onto a baking sheet. 
• Baste potatoes using a pastry brush with the olive oil and herb mixture. 
• Sprinkle a generous amount of salt on the potatoes along with a tsp of cayenne pepper. 
• Bake for 20 minutes. Afterwards, use a spatula to turn the potatoes on the opposite sides once they begin to brown. Continue to bake for another 10 minutes. 
• Flip the potatoes again, and add the cheese and sage for an additional 5 minutes in the oven and then remove the potatoes from the oven. 

 

The Beetroot Pickle 

• Ensure that the beetroot, carrot and cucumber are sliced as thinly as possible. 
• In a sauce pan, on medium heat combine 1/2 cup of water, red wine vinegar, ginger, pimento seeds and sugar and bring to a boil. Stir in the hot pepper jelly until dissolved. Let this cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Careful not to overcook so that you don't have the liquid reducing. 
• Remove from the heat and strain pimento and ginger so that you are left with the pickling liquid. 
• In a container that has a lid, add the sliced vegetables and pour pickling and seal immediately. 
• Let that sit until it's time to plate. This can be done up to 24 hours in advance. 

The Pork Piccata 😎

• Remove pork from packaging and wash with water and vinegar or lemon and drain excess water and add to a bowl. 
• Add garlic powder, cayenne pepper and all purpose seasoning to the pork and cover with plastic wrap for 2 hours. This can be done up to 24 hours in advance. 
• In a sautée pan add the vegetable oil and about 2 tablespoons of butter until the butter begins to brown.
• Dredge the pork chops in all purpose flour and add to the pan on one side until the edges become golden brown and crispy. 
• Turn the pork chops and cook for about a minute longer and remove from pan along with excess oil. Set the pork chops aside
• In the same pan, add white wine and lemon juice, and allow the alcohol to cook off for about 7-10 minutes. You should have about 3/4 of the volume of the wine that you started with. 
• Rinse the brine off the capers by running them in a strainer under water for a 1-2 minutes
• Add remaining remaining butter, capers, salt (if you used unsalted butter) pepper, 1 tbsp parsley, combine well. Serve over the pork chops. 

  

Danzii's Tips 

• So, for my anti-pork eaters, you can use chicken breast! Yes, you can make a chicken piccata. I'd recommend tenderizing the chicken breast prior to seasoning and you'll be good to go! 
• "What are capers?" Capers come from the caper factory which originated from the caper bush. Oh, not what you meant? Sorry! Capers are an acquired taste, but, they add a bright lemon, 'olive-esque' and salty note to your sauce, so I would definitely recommend using them for their awesome flavor profile. For my lovely Jamaican folks, you can get these to buy at Loshusan or General Foods, and it costs around $600.00. 
• I prefer to parboil my potatoes a little bit so that that are nice and tender by the time they come out of the oven. 
• "Danzii, we don't have olive oil for the potatoes." All good, you can use butter. Just melt it down, careful not to overheat it to the point where it starts browning. I preferred to use olive oil because it gives a nicer crunch factor. 
• No red wine vinegar? You can use regular white or apple cider vinegar. I just like the flavor profile of the red wine vinegar.
• Hot pepper jelly can be substituted with adding about 2-3 more tbsp of sugar and cayenne pepper to your pickling liquid. 
• I also added extra sugar in the pickling liquid so that I'd have a good balance where I get the sweetness of the fresh pickle, the fat from the butter and pork. Then some acid from the sauce to cut through all the fat and the herbaceous notes from the potatoes. 
• Can't find fresh lemon to juice? No worries, I couldn't either. I bought regular lemon juice in a bottle from concentrate. Works fine. 
• You can use grated Parmesan cheese like the one Kraft makes if you don't have any shredded Parmesan. 
• I wouldn't recommend using margarine to substitute the butter because it tastes significantly different. 

Your finished product should look a little like this (pardon the not so pretty plating!)

Here we are at the end of another culinary 101 courtesy of your favorite neighborhood aspiring chef. This dish has some super bright notes, not including the bright pink pickle sitting in the plate, but from the flavor profiles of all the ingredients which come together nicely. Since we can't go outside, please allow me to bring easy gourmet to you. Until next time, from my kitchen to yours, "Bone Apple Teeth!"