Pork Chop and Fig Salad with baby kale / havarti / lemon adobo dressing
Figs are hard to find out of season, so we love to highlight them when the season hits. This simple entree salad lets the flavor and texture of ripe figs really shine.
Smarts: If figs are not in season where you are, halved grapes make an excellent sub.
Ingredients
- Pork chops, boneless - 1 lb
- Cheese, smoked Havarti - 6 oz, cubed (sub any other smoked cheese or goat cheese)
- Figs - 8, halved or quartered (sub grapes, using 4x more than listed)
- Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp
- Baby kale - 10 oz (sub any type kale, chopped)
- Sunflower seeds - 1/4 cup
- Lemon juice - 1 Tbsp
- Vinegar, red wine - 1 Tbsp
- Adobo sauce - 1 tsp (opt; usually found in a can of chipotles in adobo)
- Mustard, Dijon - 1 tsp
- Honey - 2 tsp
- Paprika, smoked - 1/2 tsp
- Oil, olive - 3 Tbsp
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Make dressing - Whisk together lemon juice, vinegar, adobo sauce, mustard, honey, and paprika. Add olive oil while whisking. Season with some salt and pepper. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Pork chops - Season with some salt and pepper and tenderize with a fork. (Can be done 1 day ahead)
- Cheese / Figs - Cube cheese. Slice figs in half or in quarters (if using larger figs).
Make
- Heat a skillet with cooking oil over medium-high heat. Add pork chops and sear on each side for ~3 minutes. For thin pork chops, this should be enough heat to cook them through. If you’re using thicker pork chops, lower heat and cover with a piece of foil until pork reaches 145F / 63C degrees.
- Transfer pork to a cutting board and cover. Let rest for 5 minutes.
- While pork rests, gently toss together kale, cheese, figs, and sunflower seeds with about half of the dressing.
- Slice pork and serve on top of salad. Add additional dressing over top. Enjoy!
Reviews
This meal has 26 reviews
Came together really easily. I couldn’t find baby kale so I used regular kale. I think next time I’d use spinach. Loved the grapes in the salad.
Pretty good for a salad!
No figs or smoked havarti, so went with grapes and smoked gouda. Easy and tasty.
The figs didn't look good so I used grapes, but it was still delicious.
This was delicious! I did smoked gouda as I couldn’t find smoked havarti and toasted pecans instead of sunflower seeds. I was skeptical about the flavors working together, but really enjoyed this.
I loved this. Served pork chop on side. Made salad with goat cheese. It was fantastic.