Center Cut Pork Chop with Savory Cherry Sauce, Fennel & Red Cabbage Slaw and Watermelon Salad

This was actually tossed together in minutes. I made the savory cherry sauce a few days earlier. The watermelon salad was all done ahead and I simply added the feta at the last minute. Likewise, the fennel-cabbage slaw was made ahead.

I heated a cast-iron skillet to medium high, tossed the pork chop on and let it cook undisturbed for about 4 minutes, then turned it and let if finish cooking, about another 4 minutes. The secret to good, juicy pork chops (or any meat, really) is to resist the temptation to press on it with the spatula and to let it just cook without a lot of flipping. My mom said meat lost 1/4 of its juiciness every time it was turned and I believe it.

• Watermelon Salad
• Cabbage Fennel Slaw
• Cherry Sauce

 

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Watermelon Salad with Mint and Feta

This is a delicious salad recipe I learned from Food Network’s show Aarti Party featuring the fabulously tasty food of Aarti Sequeira. Her recipe is on their web site here. I pretty much followed their recipe exactly except I added a bit more sumac and I mixed the honey into the lime juice before putting the juice on the salad. My honey is raw and wouldn’t just easily pour.

I love watermelon, so much so that I have resisted all watermelon salad recipes thinking that it’s silly to mess with the perfect food, but the flavor combination intrigued me. It’s such a perfect blend of tart from the lemon and a hint our sour from the sumac and the creamy tang of the cheese all with the luscious melons and the bit of bite from the limes. The sum is truly greater than the parts, it’s plain amazing.