Bacon Crusted Pork Chops with Turnip Puree and Squash

Last week, I received a beautiful new cookbook – Ricardo Larrivee’s Foods for Every Occasion –  from Angie at Sea Salt with Food. I’ve been drooling over it every since! This is really a wonderful book: tons of recipes that are exactly to my tastes, more gorgeous photographs than I can count, and fun text. I love it! Of course, I had to make something from it right away.

This recipe is from the chapter “Looks like they’re staying for dinner…”. The chapter is full of recipes that don’t require any fancy ingredients – basically meals that you can make on the fly with staple ingredients. I can always use more recipes like that, and this is definitely something that I almost always have everything on hand for. And it’s delicious. Like I’ve said before, what can be better than combining bacon with pork?

I wanted the pork to be the star of the show here, so I chose side dishes that are pretty mild but still flavorful – pureed turnip and grilled squash. I think turnip is very under used… the cashier actually had to ask me what it was in order to ring it up! To most people, turnip is something that it eaten once a year, at Thanksgiving. Even then, what most people think is turnip is actually rutabaga (also known as a “Swede” or a “yellow turnip”). Turnips are very mild, with a slightly peppery flavor. They’re delicious as a puree and compliment almost everything.

Bacon Crusted Pork Chops
Adapted from Meals for Every Occasion

• 2 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup homemade breadcrumbs (I used about 3″ of stale baguette)
• 2 Tbs chives
• 2 Tbs Dijon mustard
• 1 Tbs honey
• 2 boneless pork chops
• salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Chop bacon in food processor. add breadcrumbs and pulse a few times, until the texture is similar to stuffing. Mix in chives.

Combine mustard and honey to form a glaze. Brush onto pork chops. Season with salt and pepper. Press into breadcrumb mixture, coating all sides well. Using your hands, press bread into pork to secure it.Bake about 30 minutes, or until fully cooked. Allow to rest for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Serves 2.

Turnip Puree

• 2 small turnips
• 1 tsp butter
• 1/4 cup skim milk
• salt and pepper

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.

Peel turnips and cut them into 1-inch cubes. Boil turnips until tender – about 30 minutes. Drain and add to food processor. Process until smooth. Add butter and milk and pulse another 4 or 5 times to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

Serves 2.