Pork Medallions with Apple Rosemary Mint Glaze

Last fall I made some super delicious glazes and we've been working our way through them.

Recently Eric - the Meat Master - came up with a fantastic dish using the Apple Rosemary Mint Glaze.

This recipe also calls for my not-famous-but-totally-should-be Pork Rub.   It's fabu.

I know you're hungry, so without further ado....


Pork Medallions with Apple Rosemary Mint Glaze
www.rurification.com

• 1/2 onion
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and diced
• butter to saute the vegetables in
• 1/3 cup Apple Rosemary Mint Glaze concentrate + 1 cup water [OR 1 1/3 cup regular glaze]
• 5 dried apricots, cut in small pieces
• Robin's Pork Rub
• 1 lb or so pork, cut up into medallions.   [We like pork shoulder chops]
• oil to cook meat in

Saute the onion and carrot in the butter until soft.  If you need to thin the glaze, then combine the water and glaze concentrate and heat until thoroughly combined.  Put the cooked vegetables and apricots in the glaze.  Dredge the meat in the pork rub and heat the oil in a large pan.   Brown the meat in the oil until crispy.  Pour the glaze over the meat and reduce.  Deglaze with 1/3 cup white wine.

We served this with quinoa, garden beans and peas.    Absolutely delicious!  

Hoary Mountain Mint

We have no mountains here, so this is perhaps a strange thing to find here, but it's native and it's happy, mountains or not.   The plants have square stems as mints do and they get about 3 feet tall here.   We see it every year along the roadsides, but t's all over the place this year, so clearly it likes the cooler, wetter weather.   Even in all our clay.

The Latin is Pycnanthemum incanum.    'Pycnanthemum' means 'dense flower cluster' in Greek.   Now you know.

Mango Strawberry Mint Freezer Jam

The mangoes are ripe and we've been getting them by the box.    I've been thinking for a long time about mango jam and I spent an entire weekend developing recipes.

You're going to LOVE them.

Seriously.

This jam will improve your life.

You'll sleep better at night, your kids will be smarter, your husband will actually put his dirty clothes IN the wash basket and not next to it.

OK that last one is probably just pushing it.

But I'm absolutely sure that mango jam will improve your breakfast.    And lunch.   And dinner.  And dessert.

Definitely.   Here's what we have coming up:

• Mango Strawberry Mint Freezer Jam
• Mango Chai Ginger Jam
• Mango Bay Lime Jam

It's been hot, so we'll start with the freezer jam.    You'll want to eat it by the spoonful, so make several batches.   See the post from earlier for an easy way to cut mangoes up.

 Mango Strawberry Mint Freezer Jam

• 3 cups crushed mango pieces
• 1 cup crushed strawberry slices
• 1 Tablespoon finely minced fresh mint
• 4 T Ball Instant Pectin for freezer jam
• 1 1/3 cup sugar

Stir the sugar and pectin together well and set aside.     Crush your fruit some more.  Cut up the mint a little finer.   Stir the mint into the fruit.   Stir the sugar/pectin mix into the fruit and stir well for 3 minutes.   Spoon into freezer containers and let sit out for 30 minutes.    Label the jars - you'll want to find these fast.   After 30 minutes, put the containers in the freezer.  

This jam is fabulous on dutch pancakes.  

Note:  3 large mangoes will give you about 3 cups crushed.   Also - don't over-do it with the mint.   You just need a suggestion of mint; you don't want it to take over.