Seared Mangalitsa Pork Rack Chop
Chef Shawn Mac at Prism at Greektown Casino Hotel
About this dish: Prism’s newest dish utilizes fresh, locally-sourced produce including bing cherries, morel mushrooms, and wild ramps. The main feature of this dish is Mangalitsa pork, paying homage to the hard-working Michigan and Midwest farms that brought back this breed from the brink of extinction. Mangalitsa has one of the best flavor profiles and is often considered the ‘the Kobe beef of pork’.
Farro ingredients:
- 3/4 cups Farro
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon butter
Farro directions:
- Measure 3/4 cups Farro into a fine mesh sieve and rinse with cold water. Drain.
- Transfer to a medium-sized pot that has a lid.
- Add 2 cups chicken stock and 1 teaspoon salt.
- Bring to a boil over high heat.
- Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 25-30 minutes, until it is softened but still chewy.
- If there is liquid remaining in the pot, drain it off.
- Use a fork to gently fluff in the butter.
Morel Mushroom Recipe:
- 1 tablespoon olive oil blend
- 8 ounces morel mushroom, cleaned, trimmed, and split in half lengthwise
- 1 small shallot, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
- 1 medium clove garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh herbs such as chives, chervil, or parsley
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Morel Mushroom directions:
- Heat oil in a stainless steel pan over high heat until shimmering.
- Add mushrooms and cook, stirring and tossing occasionally, until well-browned, about 4 minutes total.
- Reduce heat to medium-high and add shallots and garlic.
- Cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 45 seconds.
- Add butter, chicken stock and cook, swirling pan, until liquid reduces and morels are coated in a creamy sauce, about 1 minute.
- Stir in herbs, season to taste with salt and pepper.
Pickled Cherries Recipe:
- 1/2 pound bing cherries
- 3/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 Strip orange zest
- 1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3/4 teaspoons coriander seeds
Pickled Cherries directions:
- Pit each cherry, cut in half and put them in a container.
- Mix the vinegar, sugar, salt, orange zest, black peppercorns, cinnamon sticks, and coriander seeds in a nonreactive saucepan and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat so the liquid simmers, and cook for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and let cool for 10 minutes.
- Pour the liquid over the cherries.
- When the cherries are completely cool, cover the cherries, and refrigerate until ready to use.
Sweet & Spicy Red Pepper Glaze ingredients:
- 1 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 red bell peppers, seeded, deveined, and diced
- 1 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup Bragg’s cider vinegar
- 1/8 cup maple syrup
- 1/8 cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
Sweet & Spicy Red Pepper Glaze directions:
- Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the bell peppers and garlic and sauté until tender, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Add the vinegar, maple syrup, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes, and simmer for about 15 minutes.
- Remove the pepper mixture from the heat and let it cool to room temperature.
- Transfer the pepper mixture to a blender and process until smooth.
- Store in refrigerate until ready to use.
- Warm the glaze over medium heat, stirring occasionally, and prior to using it to baste meat during the last 5 minutes of cooking.
Warm Farro Salad ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons bacon fat
- 4 ounces ramp greens and ramp bulbs, rinsed, chopped and separated
- 3 cups farro, cooked
- 3 ounces morels, cooked
- 1 cup corn, charred
- 4 ounces asparagus, cut on a bias, blanched
- 4 ounces cherry wood bacon, rendered
- to taste kosher salt & black pepper
Warm Farro Salad directions:
- Heat a non-stick sauté pan on medium heat
- Add bacon fat and ramp bulbs to the hot pan and saute a few minutes to develop a base for the salad.
- Then add farro, morels, corn, asparagus, and bacon.
- Sauté until hot 2-3 minutes.
- Finish the warm salad with adjusting the seasoning of salt & black pepper.
Seared Mangalitsa Pork Rack Chop ingredients:
- (4) bone-in, Mangalitsa pork rack chops
- Kosher salt and pepper to taste
- 4 tablespoons olive blend
Seared Mangalitsa Pork Rack Chop directions:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Heat oil until lightly smoking in a large sauté pan big enough to hold all the pork chops.
- Season the pork chops with salt and pepper and then sear well on high heat, pressing down on them when you put them in the pan with tongs to ensure an even, golden sear.
- When the chops are golden brown, flip them over to sear the other side, then place chops in the oven until they are 130 degrees
- The most important part is the resting phase.
- While the pork chops are resting, they should be about medium by this time.
- Plating the final dish on a preheated dinner plate, scoop on the plate warm farro salad with morel mushrooms, ramps, corn, asparagus, and bacon.
- Nestle the pork chop on the warm salad and spread some of the red pepper glaze on the pork chop, garnish with pickled cherries and micro purple radish greens and serve immediately.
