Homemade Locally Grown

Locally Grown Organic Pork in Tomato and Veggie Gravy

I did get a photo of my dinner, but it was all red and really not attractive in the photo, but it really tasted great! This is an adaptation of a recipe I got from Hungry Gnome Farm (my former CSA which no longer is growing for sale anymore). Hungry Gnome raved about their recipe for meat that needs to be stewed low and slow. I decided that I would try something in the framework of their recipe, but instead of using canned goods as the recipe called for, I was determined to use what I had in the house, and food that I have put up in the freezer. Here is how I made it:

Oven 350F

The Gravy

local organic super San Marzano tomatoes (Bells Bend Neighborhood Farms)
variety of local organic sweet and hot peppers (Bells Bend)
variety of heirloom organic tomatoes (my garden)
variety of heirloom organic peppers (my garden)
organic garlic cloves (Bells Bend)
organic onion (Bells Bend)
organic rosemary (my garden)
organic oregano (my garden)
basil (Bells Bend)
Anchovies
organic olive oil (Olio Nuovo, The Olive Press)
water (Nashville Metro Water Services)
red Zin (Buehler Vineyards, Napa)
Balsamic vinegar (The Olive Press)

Pint of frozen super San Marzano stewed tomatoes (Bells Bend, my kitchen)

Boneless Pork Chop
Organic grass fed boneless pork chop (West Wind Farm)
ground cumin (Penzeys)
Kosher salt (Morton's)
cracked black pepper (Penzeys)
1/2 sharp paprika (Penzeys)
rosemary (my garden)
oregano (my garden)
organic olive oil (Olio Nuovo, The Olive Press)

To make the gravy, saute onions and garlic in olive oil. Add a few anchovies and stir. Dump in diced fresh tomatoes and peppers, and a little water to boil. Add herbs and boil. Add wine and boil. Add a few shakes of vinegar and stir. Add pint of stewed tomatoes. When everything is cooked and mushy, put the mixture in the blender and whirl it up into a sauce. There is no need to peel the tomatoes because they skins will be blended up to a smooth sauce.

To start the pork rinse and dry the pork well. Cut the pork into about 3 oz pieces (1 serving pieces). Apply salt, pepper, herbs and spices generously over all the pieces of pork, like a dry rub. In a dutch oven on the stove top, brown the pork on all sides in a little olive oil.

Pour the gravy over the pork and cover the dutch oven. Put the dutch oven in the oven at 350F for about 45 - 60 min. Serve a piece of meat and gravy over rice or pasta. I served it over rice, because that is what I have in the house, but I bet shells, spaghetti, fettuccine, etc would be great too.

The story of making the gravy is that in the middle of making the gravy, I noticed that my fresh tomatoes and peppers were cooking down, and there was not enough volume for the gravy. The recipe inspiration called for 28 oz of canned stewed tomatoes, and I kept on thinking I had to run to the store to get canned tomatoes to make up the extra volume. Well, the reality is that I have putting up stewed tomatoes in my freezer for the past few months, and I have just shy of 6 quarts in the freezer. All of a sudden, as I was reaching for the keys to go to the grocery store, a lightbulb went off and I reached into the freezer to get stewed tomatoes! Doh! I mean Doh! I had put up a lot of stewed tomatoes for use when there are no more tomatoes growing in cooler weather. Well, cooler weather has arrived, and I was able to use my frozen tomatoes. I am happy that I remembered about my freezer. I had so much fun making this dinner by shopping in my own freezer.