Sous Vide Pork Chops with Hard Cider Glaze

I love pork chops and apple. Apple-stuffed might be my favorite, but this recipe is delicious and simpler. If you don't have a sous vide, you can just cook pork chops normally and finish with the glaze. They're really juicy and flavorful and a great fall dinner. I served them with Ina Garten's roasted cauliflower with pecorino and panko - a great side! (Taken from this recipe.)

Quinoa-Crusted Pork Chops

After Peru, I was dying to crust something in quinoa and decided on pork chops. I used this basic recipe but subbed in quinoa for breadcrumbs. Yum! It's also sort of healthy, right? Feel free to marinate the chops first, or just season well with salt and pepper. Can't wait to try another quinoa-coated something.

Ingredients:

2 bone-in pork chops

salt and pepper

1 cup uncooked quinoa (cooked according to package directions, cooled)

1 egg

flour

1 tbps butter

1 tbsp olive oil

(I marinated ours with some mint and orange zest and garlic)

Porchetta Pork Chops

 

I was away for a wedding this weekend - congratulations, Chip and Siobhan! - and wasn't doing any cooking, so yesterday I was anxious to make dinner. I saw this recipe on the Times for pork chops and thought it sounded great. I also picked up some avocado squash at the Union Square Market. I'd never had avocado squash it before but the sign said it was like zucchini only smoother and more buttery and holds up better on the grill. Yum! Both were great. The pork chops have a wonderful flavor with the rosemary, fennel, lemon, and garlic. Jamie loved them. The squash was perfect just tossed with olive oil, salt, garlic, and pepper and thrown under the broiler.

I also grabbed some shishito peppers for an hors d'oeuvre.

Braised Pork Chops

I couldn't wait to try out my beautiful new cherry red Le Creuset braiser! It was an early wedding present from one of my very best friends, Alice, and her boyfriend Ryan. (Thanks guys!!!) I LOVE it. I feel so fancy owning such a pretty and well made piece of cooking equipment. Jamie requested pork chops, so I googled around and found a few recipes for braised pork chops, then kind of made up my own. They were tasty! And pretty easy, too.

Ingredients:
2 pork chops (preferably boneless)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp maple syrup
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 bay leaf
water

Directions:
Heat the olive oil in a heavy bottomed pan.

Doesn't the oil look so nice in the pot?

Apple-Stuffed Pork Chops with Cider Garlic Glaze

I had some good friends over for dinner last night and one of them, Charlie, requested these pork chops. I made them for him once before for helping me carry a table from my sister's apartment to my then new apartment. They're super tasty and a really special weeknight meal. The sauteed apples are so tasty, I'd love to find another use for them. The sweet of the apple and the rich butter, the salt, and the kick of the chipotle powder is awesome. The cider glaze is also incredibly good - syrupy but with garlic. Yum! I served it with minted pea puree. (Jamie loves pea puree, so it's becoming a staple in our house.)

Serves 4
Ingredients:
4 bone in pork chops, the thicker the better
1 1/2 apples (I used 1 Granny Smith and half a Gala) peeled and thinly sliced
3 cups apple cider
4 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, smashed and peeled
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
salt and pepper

mojo pork

It may be because it's Groundhog's Day and I'm told winter's almost over, or how much Dexter I've been watching lately, but I'm in the mood for some citrusy Cuban food. I've always wanted to try to make mojo, and I'm expiramenting on a small scale since it's a Wednesday and only two of us will be eating. I made the marinade last night, then added garlic this morning. Below is my method so far... will add cooking methods and reviews later...
Ingredients:
2 boneless pork chops
3 large oranges
2 limes
6 cloves garlic, divided (4 crushed, 2 sliced into little spears)
1/4 white onion, sliced

Directions:
Juice two of the oranges and zest half of the third into a sauce pan. Squeeze in the two limes, add the crushed garlic cloves and the onion slices and cook until reduced in half. Squeeze in the third orange and salt to taste. Once cool, poor over the pork in a bag or shallow dish and marinate over night. In the morning, flip the pork chops and with a skewer, poke holes in the meat and insert the garlic spears to fill the holes. Put back in the marinade.


Here's the rest!

Take the chops out of the marinade and pat dry. Salt and pepper and then sear them in a hot skillet w/ some olive oil. Take out the chops and pour the marinade and a little water into the pan and scrape up the brown bits. Put the chops back in and cook about 5-10 minutes each side. Serve them with some sauce on top.

These were really tasty and a great, new way way to have pork chops. They had a citrusy, fresh taste and the sauce was a sort of citrus gravy. I served it with a slice of orange and a slice of lime.