Another day, another pepper

First things first.  I need to thank Mary again for letting me take so many peppers from her home this past weekend.  Without her generosity and kindness, I would not have gotten a 5 out of 5 chicken wings on last night's dinner.  Yes, you read correctly! I am proud to say that last night's dinner was reviewed as a 5 out of 5 chicken wings in Matt's book.  I have made it.  I just wanted you (and Mary especially) to know my appreciation before going on with today's recipe.

And now that I have peaked your interest, here is what we ate.  Last night's dinner was pepper jelly pork chops with goat cheese mashed potatoes and broccoli.  As I was trying to brainstorm what I could do with all my peppers, I googled "habanero recipes."  While many ideas came up, I was most intrigued by the idea of making some sort of sauce out of the peppers.  Finally I found a habanero pepper jelly recipe on allrecipes.com and decided to tweek it to create a sauce.  

Although I don't eat meat, I have such a love for pork because I grew up in Ohio.  In Ohio we literally have billboards that state "The Other White Meat" with huge pictures of cooked pork on them.  I have grown up (aka been brainwashed) thinking this was the most superior meat out there. Therefore, anytime I want to make a meat dish, I still naturally gravitate to pork.  When I was considering making a pepper jelly sauce, I thought "How could it not be wonderful on pork, the other more delicious white meat?"

So that is where this recipe journey began!  Below are photos of the process as well as the recipe for the meal.  I hope you enjoy.

          

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Pepper Jelly Pork Chops with Goat Cheese Mashed Potatoes

Goat Cheese Mashed Potatoes

1 lb golden potatoes

1 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1/2 cup chicken broth

4oz log of goat cheese

Pepper jelly pork chops

2 pork chops

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

1 medium carrot, grated

3/4 cup of chopped peppers, seeded and minced (I used 2 hot peppers, 1 banana pepper, and 3 habanero)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Begin by cutting up the potatoes into small cubes.  Place potatoes into a big pot of salted water.  Bring pot to a boil, checking the potatoes until they are cooked through and split when poked with a fork. 

In a sauce pan, add the apple cider vinegar and the sugar.  Heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved.  Add the carrots and bring to a boil. Once it reaches a boil, lower the heat to a simmer, stirring frequently during this process.  Simmer mixture for 3-5 minutes.  Add peppers and simmer for another 3 minutes.  Turn off heat and set to the side.  

Pour about a tablespoon of olive oil in a dutch oven and heat over medium high heat.  While the dutch oven is getting hot, sprinkle all sides of the pork chops with salt and pepper.  When the dutch oven is hot, take pork chops and sear all sides, about 5 minutes on each side.  Once all sides are seared, take the pepper jelly mixture and pour over the pork chops that are sitting in the dutch oven.  Add the lid to the dutch oven and place in oven.  Bake for 20 minutes. 

When the potatoes are cooked through, drain out the water and put into a big bowl.  Add butter, chicken broth, and salt.  Mash.  Add more salt and chicken broth if needed.  Cut log of goat cheese into four parts.  Add one part at a time, stirring into the mashed potatoes.  Mix well.

Add a side of steamed broccoli or another green if you desire.