Pork Chop with Sweet Potato Hash

I was off early one night in the lead up to Christmas and Ann was home from her parents' house, so I brought home some pork chops and some mâche, a light and slightly nutty salad green. None of us are eating/eating well given the current circumstances with Ann's father, so I am making a conscious effort to at least get us all around the table when I can.

The pork chops I put in a hickory bark syrup brine for about a week before cooking. These I seared in a hot black steel pan and then finished for about five minutes in a 400F oven. A quarter cup of hickory bark (or maple) syrup and a tablespoon of salt to a gallon of water makes a fine brine. Hickory bark syrup is made locally by boiling shagbark hickory bark in water and then adding turbinado sugar which gives it a smoky flavor.

Pork Chop with Sweet Potato Hash and Mâche Salad

I have for years made a sweet potato hash from sweet potatoes, onions, slab bacon, and dried cranberries. Once all is cooked, I deglaze the pan with bourbon to add a woody, caramel note. I spied a sweet potato on the counter and turned it into this hash. Ann wasn't a big fan but I'm not surprised: she's one of those that has an issue with fruit in savory dishes. I find that it a wonderful accompaniment to pork or duck.

Bourbon-Flambéed Sweet Potato, Bacon, and Cranberry Hash

Soft Shell Crabs

Soft shell crabs take me back to summers as a child when we would vacation at my aunt's rustic house (complete with outhouse) on the Rappahannock River just before it emptied into the Chesapeake Bay. I used to walk the tidal marshes with a dip net looking for crabs. And it was a bonus when I'd find a doubler (two crabs mating) because not only was it two crabs for the effort of catching one, the sook underneath the jimmy would be a soft shell.

Invariably for at least one meal during the time we were there, we'd have soft shells, dredged in flour and fried. They were as delicious then as these are now.

Here you see our dinner of a soft shell along with some mâche and a pesto orzo salad, a delicious and summery Tuesday night repast. These are the first soft shells of the season. I hope there are many more to come this summer!