Pork Chops with Ginger-Cherry Sauce

If we were playing the word association game and you said "pork," I would say "fruit." Because for me, fruit is just the best possible accompaniment to somewhat bland pork. I really have a hard time getting excited about pork chops for dinner unless there is fruit involved (with the exception of squash and pork - that's good too for the same sweet reasons) Apples, of course, are a natural pairing, along with its buddies applesauce or apple cider. Pineapple or peach salsa can top off of pork taco pretty well too, especially when there's some red chile sauce involved as a contrast to the sweet.

So when I stopped by to visit a favorite blog, Pork Cracklins, and I saw a Cooking Light recipe for Pork Chops with Ginger-Cherry sauce, I knew I would have give it a try because the thought of it just made my mouth water. This is a really delicious simple recipe and I made only a few changes. I used fresh ginger instead of jarred(?) And I added some real tart red cherries from my frozen stash to the sauce, in addition to the preserves. These red cherries looked like jewels on the plate and really made the dish special.


We tried to convince the kids that this sauce was sweet and made the pork taste better, but alas, they had theirs sans sauce. With the red sauce and the green veg, wouldn't this make a festive dish for a holiday dinner party? Our green veg of the night was green beans sauteed with garlic and shitake mushrooms. I'm puttting shitake in everything lately, I'm just hooked on them.