If you've watched shows like Top Chef or Iron Chef America, you've undoubtedly heard the term confit, but there's nothing new about this preparation. Confit one of the oldest methods of preserving food.  The food is immersed in a substance that enhances flavor and provides preserving properties.  A good example is duck confit, where duck meat, usually legs, is cooked slowly by submerging it in rendered duck fat.  Allowed to cool, the fat offers great preservation properties, and the meat can be refrigerated in the fat for weeks without compromising safety or flavor. The same can be done with fruit, using a sugar solution instead of rendered fat, but we'll save that for another recipe. We aren't worried about preservation at this point though, so why else would we cook something confit style?

For me, a lot of what I like about confit is the melding of flavors, the richness and the soft textures of the cooked items.  Slow cooking methods help develop intense flavors, and like braising, the fat component becomes both a flavor enhancer and a flavor vehicle.  So when I got to the market this week, I found a vendor who had a bevy of the most beautiful eggplants I've seen yet.  Italian, Japanese, albino white, and these cute little fairy eggplants(look for those later). I selected a pair of flawless purples and went home thinking about what I could possibly do with em.  

I love grilled eggplant, but I wanted to try something different.  That night, I was watching Iron Chef and Mario Batali made a tomato confit.  That made me think, why not an eggplant confit?  Sounds good, but what an eggplant, roasted red pepper and tomato confit?  Why not?  And how good will that go with the awesome pork chops I'd gotten? Perfectly.

I know I say this all the time, but really this is easy to make.  The confit should be made the night before and left to cool in the fridge overnight, though really an hour will get those flavors melding just fine.  The confit can work as either a side dish or as a stand alone appetizer. The other aspect to this dish is brining the pork chops.  All the rage with turkeys lately, this technique works great with pork too, and only takes an hour instead of the 12-16 hours needed for a big bird. Enjoy

Ingredients we used from Farmers Market vendors in this recipe:

• Pork Chops: Hannish Farms
• Eggplant: Linda's Garden
• Yellow Tomatoes: Linda's Garden
• Red Bell Peppers: Lefler Gardens
• Artisan baguette: Cider Hill Farms

Grilled Pork Chops & Eggplant Confit

Confit
2 red bell peppers
2 medium eggplants, p
1 yellow tomato
8 cloves garlic
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
pinch of kosher salt


Pork Chops
4 pork chops
2 cups water
1/3 cup kosher salt
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp + 4 tsp honey
4 Tbsp dijon mustard

pinch of kosher salt

pinch of white pepper

1.)  Roast peppers on grill or under broiler until skins are black and blistered.  Turn so all sides are blackened.  Place peppers into a paper shopping bag until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes.  The steam will help loosen the skins.  Remove from bag, deseed and peel off skins.  Roughly chop into pieces approximately 1 inch square.


2.)  Dice tomatoes into 1 inch squares.  Peel eggplant and dice into 1 inch squares.


3.)  Preheat oven to 375.  Smash garlic cloves and combine with red peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, olive oil and salt in a, oven proof baking dish.  Toss until all vegetables are well coated and roast until eggplant is tender, but not falling apart, about 45 minutes.


4.)  When eggplant is tender, remove from heat and allow to cool.  Stir in fresh basil and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.  For best results, make the night before.  Return to room temperature and serve with thin slices of baguette.


5.)  Brine:  Combine water, brown sugar and salt in a medium sauce pan and bring to a boil.  Stir until salt and sugar are dissolved.  Remove from heat and stir in 2 tsp honey and soy sauce.  Add ice and stir until cool.  Pour brine into a zip lock bag or drip proof container with pork chops and refrigerate for 1 hour.


6.)  Remove pork chops from brine and pat dry with paper towels.  Place on grill and cook until both sides are browned and pork is cooked through.  Remove from grill and allow to rest 5 minutes.


7.)  In a small bowl, combine mustard, 2 Tbsp honey, salt and white pepper.  Place a spoonful on each pork chop.  Serve with eggplant confit and fresh bread.