BERGAMOT: PORK CHOPS IN CIDER SAUCE
Bergamot has a natural affinity for pork dishes, and this recipe is a traditional early North American one.
4 thick pork chops, fat removed
2 teaspoons chopped bergamot Oil, salt, pepper
1\4 pint cider
Use a small sharp knife and score small slits in the chops on each side. Mix enough oil with the salt and pepper and chopped bergamot to make a paste, and rub into the slits in the meat. Leave for one hour. Then put chops under grill, and cook about 10 minutes each side under moderate heat, saving all the juices from the grill pan. Remove to shallow oven-proof dish. Pour the cider and juices over the chops, sprinkle top with chopped gherkins and capers, and brown for 5 minutes in a moderately hot oven. Serve with grilled pineapple or apple rings.
Bergamot can be propagated by root division after the first year, the clump divided in early spring as soon as the first leaves show. In any case, it should be dug up every three or four years, thinned out and replanted.
An orange salad can be given a piquant lift using freshly picked bergamot leaves. Peel and remove all the pith from the oranges, cut in neat wedges and pile in a small bowl, placing lightly bruised bergamot leaves in among the orange segments. Leave for an hour, then serve on a bed of lettuce with chopped bergamot leaves sprinkled over the top. The salad can be lightly dressed with apricot-kernel oil, or any bland salad oil, if you wish.
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