We've had a busy week with buying a new car and with me getting a new job, so we just got around to making our 1st Blue Apron meal of the week last night. We knew we'd be short a cucumber because it sort of exploded in the box during shipping. I don't love cucumbers so I opted not to replace it. I started by bringing a pot of water to boil while Mike cleaned and prepped the produce. Once the water was boiling, I cooked the barley with the lid off the pot for 25 minutes. After it was done cooking, I rinsed it with cold water and put it back in the pot with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. Next, I cooked the vegetables by heating up oil in a medium pan and cooking the carrot for about 3 minutes. I added in the onions, salt and pepper, and cooked for another 4 minutes. I removed the veggies from the pan and put them in a bowl while I cooked the seasoned pork in oil. I cooked the pork for 5-6 minutes on each side. After the pork chops cooked, I let them rest about 5 minutes while I made the pan sauce. I used water, mustard, honey, vinegar, salt, and pepper to make the sauce, cooking it for about 2-3 minutes. I mixed together the barley, cooked vegetables, tarragon, almonds, and yogurt. I added in a little bit of honey, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper to make up for the missing cucumber marindade. I plated each pork chop on a bed of the barley salad and we were ready to eat. The pork chops and pan sauce were delicious. The barley was just okay. We've come to the conclusion that its just not our favorite grain. We just wish it had a little more flavor to add to the yummy pork chops.

The New Austonian