Looking for a quick and easy dinner tonight, I perused the freezer of DOOM, where I have a bunch of frozen meat, and found an excess of pork. Deliciousness coming up!

I was feeling inspired by the spinach-y cheesy filling in spanakopita, but was in the mood for pork chops. So today, we had a garden salad with feta (and Italian vinaigrette), garlicky toasted pita, and porkchops stuffed with feta and spinach-y goodness. It was soooooo delicious.

This is more a "newspaper clippping" than anything else - from yesterday's paper, but I don't want to lose the recipe.

This is a long-loved recipe -- I first made it more than two years ago, when I was living in New Mexico. (Oh, the memories it brings back - the dinner party where everyone brought something, so we had this, mashed potatoes, miso, wine wine wine, salad, and some Black Forest-inspired brownies.)

Pork's one of those meats that pairs beautifully with fall fruits - apples, pears, cherries, figs, peaches. I love eating it in the fall because of all the interesting things you can do with it. Fresh juices, fresh fruits, making fresh compotes, glazes sauces ... you name it, I've tried it.

This recipe's a little off balance because while a traditionalist may marry pork with white wines (white meats with white wines), it calls for a Beaujolais. Never fear - the Beaujolais is perfect with the cherries and the pork and the cloves.

Anyway, my mom doesn't know it yet, but this is what I'll be making for her on her birthday, with some roasted garlic mashed potatoes, a chopped salad, and probably a light soup to start with. For dessert, we're having this decadent chocolate-and-Bailey's cake, but that'll be its own entry, eh?