Pork Chops & Apple Sauce – on the chops

With the approaching abundance of our Sierra apple crop, I thought it would be fun to present a recipe for Pork Chops with a special apple-based sauce.

You won’t have to look far to see trees laden with apples. I see them in neighborhoods in Carson City every time I’m tooling around town. May I suggest, if you don’t have a tree of your own, you ask your neighbor if they’d mind if you took some apples off their hands or their tree. My guess is they may have more than they know what to do with…

At Café at Adele’s and at home, I always use meat that’s humanely raised, natural and preferably organic that does not contain growth hormones, steroids or antibiotics.

You can purchase these products at places such as WholeFoods or Trader Joe’s. Nancy’s Green Barn Farm in Dayton offers naturally-raised beef, pork, lamb and a variety of poultry and veggies in season (nancysgreenbarnfarm.com or 775-246-8456). Sunny Day Farms in Stagecoach offers organically-certified pork for sale (775-342-7675 or sunnydayfarms.com). Holley Family Farm in Dayton offers organic vegetables in season and naturally-raised and grass-fed beef and pork. Call ahead (775-721-7806) to make sure they’re home and have what you need.

Pork Chops & Apple Sauce

Course: Main Course Cuisine: American Prep Time: Cook Time: 12 minutes Servings: 4

Ingredients

For the Pork Chops

You will need:

4 Thick-cut chops (1 1/2 inch)

Olive Oil

Sea Salt and Pepper

For the Sauce

You will need:

3 baseball-size apples (or an amount comparable); cut into 1/2-inch squares; there is no need to peel them.

2 T. Butter, split

2 T. Marmalade

1/2 C. Apple juice, unfiltered

Optional: 2 T. Dried cranberries or cherries

Directions

For the Chops

The chops can be cooked two ways, either seared and put in the oven or barbecued and put in the oven.

For the seared method, pour about a 1/4-inch of olive oil in two separate skillet on medium-high heat. When to temperature, place two chops in each skillet (or all four in one skillet, provided you have one big enough) and sear for three minutes on each side. Season with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. On both sides, before searing. Drain oil and place pork chops in preheated, 350 degrees oven for 12 minutes, which will yield perfect medium done pork chops.

There’s no need to cook your pork chops to death.

For the barbecue method, heat the grill and put the chops on until both sides are marked, no more than five minutes per side. Season with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. On both sides prior to grilling. Then remove to a baking dish and place pork chops in preheated, 350 degrees oven for 12 minutes. There’s no need to cook your pork chops to death.

For the Sauce

In a saucepan, melt 1 T. Butter and add apples, 2 T. Marmalade and 1/2 C. unfiltered apple juice. Optional: Add 2 T. Dried cranberries or cherries.

Let simmer 10 to 15 minutes over low or medium heat until reduced by 50 percent. Set sauce aside until pork chops are done. When they are done and ready to be served, reheat the sauce and add additional 1 T. butter, stirring thoroughly on low heat just long enough to melt the butter (approximately 2 minutes). LOW HEAT is imperative at this stage, otherwise the butter will separate.

When the sauce is done, spoon over the pork chops and serve with a side of homemade applesauce.

Enjoy!

Pork Chops & Apple Sauce – on the chops

Ingredients

Directions

Have Chef Charlie Prepare this @ Your Home…

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