The Penalty Box

Ah, the pig. So many delicious things get carved out of you, chief among them bacon, the King Awesome of Meats. However, this time, I'm making ye olde pork chops the basis of this dish. My favourite pork chop dish is probably a baked pork chop on rice dish that you'll find at many Chinese cafes. That's not what this post is about, but I'll make that one again some time and post it here.

No, this time I decided to get all Food Networky and try out an apple maple glazed pork chop dish I saw on a random food show. Of course, the chef went all "secret spices this" and "gotta kill you if I tell you that" on the show, so I was left to my own devices to try and replicate it. Hint: it involved Google. The final result was not what I expected, particularly the sauce, but I'll make some adjustments and hope for the better next time. In any case, on with the food making!

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 5 pork chops, 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick
• kosher or sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large onions, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 or 5 sprigs fresh thyme, or 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 1/2 cups apple cider
• 3 cups chicken stock
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• 2 non-tart apples, such as Red Delicious, cored and cut into 16 wedges (or 8 if you want thicker wedges)
• Juice of 1 lemon

Directions

Pat pork chops dry with a paper towel and season on both sides with salt and pepper. In a large saute pan with a lid, over medium high heat, add oil and brown chops on both sides; about 3 minutes per side. I only had 3 chops, and this sauce recipe really could've made 5 or 6.

Remove chops to a plate.

Lower heat to medium and add onions.

Stir onions often, cooking until softened and browned around the edges, about 5 minutes. Sorta like this:

Stir in garlic, thyme, and bay leaves, cook for about a minute until you start smelling the garlic. Add apple cider, chicken stock, lemon juice and maple syrup, scraping up any browned bits of goodness on pan bottom and bring to a boil. I forgot apple cider here and was too lazy to go to the store to buy more, so I just added a bit more chicken stock and some extra sugar. In retrospect, I should've added more maple syrup, as the sugar is more important to the sauce reduction than the liquid.

Lower your heat so the sauce just simmers, then stir in the apple wedges. Place your chops on top of everything.

Cover and cook for 15 minutes. That should cook them through and give you a nice medium. Adjust your time less/more depending how you like your pork chops.

Remove thyme sprigs and bay leaves and turn the heat back up to high. Boil the sauce until it thickens. Because I didn't have enough sugar, it didn't thicken for me, so I added some water mixed with cornstarch to tighten it up. Season your sauce with salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the sauce over your chops and serve. I had mine with some vegetables and rice.

This was a fun exercise in mixing the sweet and savoury. Happy eatings everyone!