Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Going Local: Massachusetts Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote

Maple-brined pork chops with strawberry-rhubarb compote and sage risotto

My vegetarian friend Emily kindly shared a jar of her homemade strawberry-rhubarb compote when I visited her in Massachusetts last month. Despite her generosity, I used the delicious concoction on none other than a pork chop, anathema to her anti-meat ways. She, too, has been bit by the eat-local bug--in a much more difficult clime than California. One of her solutions? Canning--with the help of the book Preserving the Harvest. Because there's no doubt this compote will taste even better in the middle of a Massachusetts winter!

To ensure your chops are moist through and through (even if you leave them on the grill a bit too long--oops!), I highly recommend brining them, which causes meat to absorb liquid, for at least 12 hours before grilling. I used this Maple Brined Pork Chops recipe courtesy of Epicurious.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yay! My compote found a carnivorous home! I'm glad you liked it, and it looks so pretty (as does the meat, to be perfectly honest)... We were just eating it out of the jar. Which sort of negated the point of canning it for the future in the first place..

Anonymous said...

Oh, I bet those pork chops were delicious. Yum.

Anonymous said...

Oh yum! that compote looks great, and what a fabulous use for stawberry rhubarb on meat, I had never thought of that. YUM!