Pork and Peaches

We ran out of skim milk and Clint's favorite breakfast cereal (Barbara's Puffins--Peanut Butter Flavor) yesterday morning so I figured I should stop by the store and pick up some replacements that afternoon lest there be a panic the next morning.

The closest grocery store to my office is Bloomingfoods on the Near West Side. I have a love affair with that store and wish I could find everything that I need there to run my household and at reasonable prices to boot. But I digress...

Every Tuesday evening during the season there is a small farmers market on the west side of the store. There are only a few vendors but nearly all of them had beautiful looking green beans, tomatoes (FINALLY), peaches and blackberries. Regrettably, I only had 5 dollars cash in hand so I opted for some green beans at $3.00 a bag. I was so entranced by the prospect peaches though that I picked up a few inside the store (where I could use my credit card), along with a sweet onion and some peach nectar, in addition to the real reasons I went to the store (e.g. milk and cereal). I had three boneless pork loin chops waiting for me in the fridge for dinner so I formulated a plan on the fly. Here's what I made:

Boneless pork chops with sweet onion and peach glaze, steamed green beans, couscous with blue cheese crumbles

My go-to recipes for green beans and couscous were included in the post entitled "Make-Up". Look there if you are curious. The only difference between this couscous dish and the pilaf included in the prior post is that I omitted the veggies added blue cheese crumbles to the cooked couscous at the end.

Boneless Pork Chops with Sweet Onion and Peach Glaze

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet onion, cut into 8ths
• 3 peaches, peeled and sliced
• 3-4 boneless pork loin chops
• 1/2 C Peach Nectar
• 1/3 C Orange Juice
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 dash of hot sauce
• few drops of sesame oil
• Dash of white rum
  
• Handful of Thyme
• pinch of salt
• Handful of fresh ground pepper

Directions:

• Mix the sliced peaches and onions together in a small bowl; set aside
• Mix the Peach Nectar, Orange Joice, Ginger, Rum, Hot Sauce, and Sesame Oil in a small bowl or measure cup and set aside.
  
• Mix the thyme, salt and pepper together in a small bowl
• Pat the pork chops dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle both sides liberally with thyme mixture
• Add 1 Tbl of oil to hot pan. Add pork chops and brown, around 3-4 minutes each side; remove from pan and cover to keep warm
• Add onion and peach mixture to pan, reduce heat to medium-low. Cook until the peaches caramelize
  
• Add peach nectar
• Return pork chops to pan
• Cook until nectar reduces down to a syrupy consistency
• Top pork chops with glaze and serve.