Locavore Day 7 - Pork Chops with Papaya Salsa

Today marks the last official day of my locavore week experiment and I've finally found my groove. Kauai coffee, fresh fruit and a slice of locally-baked toast for breakfast then miscellaneous leftovers for lunch; it all came together without much conscious thought. We've accumulated enough food in the kitchen over the past week that we can improvise by what sounds good rather than struggling to find something--anything--that counts as local.

Mondays are typically busy, running us around enough that we keep dinners simple. Tonight though we dined well: island pork chops, local sweet potatoes baked with turbinado sugar, a basic tossed salad with Kunia tomatoes and the last of our Mehana beer. We even shared around a bar of Malie Kai Lemon Macadamia Nut Dark Chocolate ($2.99, Honolulu) for dessert.

• 4 pork chops ($3.95/lb., Oahu)
• 2 limes (Oahu)
• 1/2 t. dried thyme
• 1/4 t. nutmeg
• 1/4 4. allspice
• 1/2 t. garlic salt
• 1 papaya, peeled, seeded and cubed ($0.99/lb., Kahuku)
• 1 medium hot red pepper, minced (my next-door neighbor, Julia)
• 1 green onion, thinly sliced (my next door neighbot, Julia)
• 2 T. chopped cilantro ($1/bunch, Kahuku)
• cooking oil

Juice one of the limes and mix in the thyme, nutmeg, allspice and garlic salt. Rub the mixture all over the pork chops and refrigerate for one hour.

While the chops marinate, prepare the salsa by gently tossing the cubed papaya, minced pepper, sliced onion, chopped cilantro and the juice of your other lime. Refrigerate.

Heat a little cooking oil in a large skillet and fry the pork chops until no longer pink in the middle, about ten minutes per side. Serve with a heap o' salsa piled on top.

Track progress through the other six days of locavore week.