"It's like they fed a pig apple pie its entire life," proclaimed Jeff, a couple of bites into the pork chop you see above. I agreed, groaning. It's the kind of fall meal that inspires proclamations and groans.
I've made this meal even fancier in the past, with roasted acorn squash sprinkled with sage and crushed biscotti, and mashed potatoes swimming in butter, cheese, and half-and-half. But tonight I decided to be marginally healthier; I nixed the squash and opted for low-fat mashed potatoes. I wanted to make a great Friday night surprise meal for Jeff, not a 3K calorie blowout suitable for entertaining guests and showing off.
It's pretty easy: buy some monster pork chops, brine them for a couple of hours, sear them in a pan, and bake them in the oven. While they're baking, you'll chop up some apples and sautee them in a small amount of butter and spices that will have the whole house smelling like Thanksgiving.
This is from Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen, the one where he's on the cover tossing some ingredients in a bowl with his hands and having a hearty chuckle. I've adjusted the pork chop recipe to serve 2 ravenous adults. I've left his apple recipe alone. He says it serves 4, but if you ask me it only makes enough apples for 2, possibly 3 people. They're really good.
INGREDIENTS
for the pork chops:
- 8 cups water
- 1/2 C brown sugar
- 1/2 C sea salt
- 1/2 C frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
- 3/4 t whole black peppercorns
- 1 fresh thyme sprig
- 2 double-cut, bone-in pork chops, .75 to 1 pound each <--Yeah, I know. These are huge, but do not compromise on this one with regular chops. You may even have to *gulp* ask the butcher to cut these for you, omg.
- salt and pepper
- extra-virgin olive oil
DIRECTIONS
Combine the water, brown sugar, sea salt, apple juice, peppercorns, and thyme in a large bowl or extra large plastic bag. Give it a stir to dissolve the sugar and salt. Submerge the pork chops in the brine, seal up the bag or cover the bowl, and put it inthe refrigerator for 2 hours to tenderize the meat. Do not brine longer than that or the meat will break down too much and get mushy.
Preheat the oven to 350. Remove pork chops from the brine and pat them dry with paper towels. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper. Put a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add a 3-count drizzle of olive oil and get it hot. Lay the pork chops in the pan and brown 4 minutes per side. Remove the pork chops to a baking pan/glass baking dish. Put pan/dish in the oven and roast the chops for 25-30 minutes. The pork is done when the internal temperature reads 140-145 and the center is still rosy. My chops were at 155 and cooked all the way through after 25 minutes. Still great, and frankly I don't know if I want them to be "rosy," but you be the judge.
While the chops cook, prepare the apples.
- 2 T unsalted butter
- 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced in 1/2-inch thick wedges
- Leaves from 2 fresh thyme sprigs
- 1/2 C raisins <--Tyler went with dark, but golden raisins are good, too.
- 3/4 C frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed
- 3 T brown sugar
- 1/4 t cinnamon
- 1/4 t ground cloves
- pinch cardamom
- pinch dry mustard
- salt and pepper
- juice of 1/2 lemon
Melt the butter in a clean skillet over medium-low heat. Add the apples and thyme and coat in the butter; cook and stir for 8 minutes to give them some color. Toss in the raisins and add the apple juice, stirring to scrape up the brown bits (I had no brown bits). Stir in the brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and dry mustard, and season with salt and pepper. Squeeze in the lemon juice to wake up the flavor and simmer for 10 minutes or until the apples break down and soften. Spoon the spiced apples over the pork chops.
Thanks to Jeff for helping me make this tonight! He came home early from work and made the mashed potatoes and prepped the apples. :)
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