Guava Pork Chops & Shredded Cabbage and Carrots

Similar to the inspiration for many of my dishes, boyfriend came along shopping at the farmer's market last week, spotted some guavas, and insisted we buy some. Never having seen a fresh guava before, never mind cooked with one, I was kind of stumped. I browsed some recipe sites, but was disappointed. Recipes either called for a guava marmalade/jam instead of fresh, or was a dessert. One thing I did notice, however, was that a lot of the marmalade/jam went with pork. Knowing I had pork chops in the freezer, I Googled for recipes and found this recipe, courtesy of Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (they specified Florida honey, Florida pork chops, and Florida guavas):


1 lb. boneless pork chops
1 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup Cabernet Sauvignon or any red wine
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup water
2 guavas, peeled, seeded, sliced thin 
 
Step One
Season pork chops with thyme, salt and pepper. Melt butter in skillet and brown pork chops over medium high heat on both sides.

Step Two
Add Cabernet Sauvignon, honey, water and sliced guavas. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes. 

I totally missed the "seeded" part for the guavas. I'm kind of glad, because I think it had a lot more flavour that way. Otherwise it would have just been little rings that would have turned mushy and probably disappeared. Either way, the seeds are impossible to bite, so while it makes for a pretty picture, it makes it hard to eat. I'd recommend cooking with seeds but not serving with seeds.


For a side, I was looking for something with cabbage since I had a head of it waiting to be used in the fridge with no plans. I first was thinking coleslaw, but I then consulted my vegetarian cookbook and decided on this instead:

2 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds (I used dry mustard)
1 small to medium sized head of green cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, shredded
honey
salt and pepper


Heat oil in a heavy saucepan with a lid. When it is hot, add the mustard seeds. 
When seeds begin to pop, pile in the shredded cabbage and carrots. Drizzle over honey and stir well. Turn down the heat, put on lid, and cook for 3 minutes or until just tender.
Season with salt and pepper and serve.

It was a learning experience for me with guavas, both in just cooking with them and also that they go very nicely with pork. The cabbage and carrots were warm but still nice and crisp and fresh with a hint of sweetness from the honey that paired well with the pork chops.


-B