Pork chops have gotten a bit of a bad rap over the years. Most have come to accept the fact that when it’s pork chops for dinner, there had better be a a mega-value tub of apple sauce on the table to drown them in. Or gravy. Or wine. Much of this stems from scares about pork from 20+ years ago, when we were told we needed to cook the begeesus out of any pork for it to be safe to consume. I grew up eating pork chops that were less appetizing than some pairs of shoes I owned, so when I began cooking seriously, making a delicious, succulent, juicy pork chop was one of the very first challenges I tackled.

The two secrets for cooking mega-tasty pork chops:

1. It has to be a thick chop! None of those little “minute chops” you see at the supermarket.

2. It should be bone in for maximum flavour. This is not absolutely necessary, but source out a good butcher and get him (or her) to cut you a few of these bad boys:

Season both sides liberally with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Now how do we cook it? We want to crust the exterior of the meat, while keeping it from drying out. The answer is our trusty cast iron pan + oven combo. When cooking meats these two are BFFs, giving you both the high heat sear and the ambient heat from the oven to perfectly cook our chops. Preheat the oven to 325F.

If you have a gas range, flip the pan down on the burner and turn it on high. Let it get hot hot hot, let it go for at least 10 minutes.

Flip the pan over, add a thin layer of veg. oil to the pan, and add in your pork chops.

Now don’t freakin’ touch them! Let them sit right where they are and don’t move them around for 8-9 minutes. After this time, flip ‘em over and you should be greeted by this:

Now add a dollop of butter to the pan, and continue to cook for 2 minutes while basting the pork with the juices and butter. Oh yeah.

Now transfer that bad boy to the oven, and continue to cook for an additional 6-7 minutes.

Remove from the oven:

Now remove the chops from the pan, and drain off half the excess fat. Add in 2 diced apples, 1 clove of chopped garlic, salt and pepper, and saute for 3-4 minutes until softened.

Add in 1/2 cup of dry white wine, and the chopped sage, let reduce for 5 minutes and turn off heat. Add in 1 tsp of butter and 1 tbsp chopped parsley.

To plate! Serve with your favorite sides, here I used a quinoa, pea shoot and roasted beet salad with lemon dijon vinaigrette, but any salad or sides will do. Plate the pork chop across the sides, and finally spoon the sauce and apples over the pork chop. Garnish with more parsley and fresh sage.

As soon as you cut into the pork, all those awful shoe-leather references will be a thing of the past when this is on your fork:

Pork chops are an inexpensive and delicious cut for dinner. It’s a terrific vessel for strong flavours, so go nuts with your marinades and flavours. Spicy, sweet, curry, tangy, the many sly winking faces of pork will take everything your pantry’s got.

Don’t give up on pork chops just yet!

Enjoy

Vancouver Personal Chef Drew Cooks! Pork Tenderloin with Wild Mushroom Orzo from Drew Munro on Vimeo.

Recipe:

Ingredients: (serves 4)

For roasted tomato rosé:

- 3 medium vine ripened tomatoes, diced
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp flour
- 2 cups milk
- salt, pepper , e.v. olive oil

Method:
Set oven to broil. Arrange tomatoes in a thin layer on a baking sheet and season with salt and pepper. Broil for approximately 12 minutes or until slightly charred. In a medium sauce pan, combine butter and flour until evenly incorporated, and then whisk in milk, stirring until thickened, about 2-3 mins. Reduce heat to simmer, add in tomatoes and puree with an immersion blender or regular blender for a smooth sauce. Set aside.

For the Wild Mushroom Orzo

Ingredients:
– 2.5 cups uncooked orzo
– 4 shallots, sliced thinly
– 1 cup chopped oyster mushrooms
– 2 tbsp marscapone cheese
– salt and pepper

Method:

Boil water in a medium sauce pan, season liberally with salt and add in orzo.
While orzo is cooking, in a sauté pan heated with olive oil, cook the shallots and oyster mushrooms until browned, and set aside. Drain orzo and return to pan off the heat. Stir in the marscapone cheese, and the oyster mushroom mix, reserving 1 tsp to garnish each plate. Stir until evenly mixed.

For pork tenderloin:
– 1 small pork tenderloin, cut in half
– 1 tsp butter
– 1 tsp olive oil
– salt and pepper

Remove any silverskin or excess fat from the tenderloin and season liberally with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 375F.

Heat a large sauté pan over med-high heat and add in the olive oil and butter. When pan is hot, add in the pork tenderloin, searing both sides until caramelized, 3-4 minutes. Finish in the oven for approximately 10-12 minutes depending on the size of your tenderloin, until cooked through.

To plate:

Using a ring mold, spoon 3-4 tbsp of the orzo mixture into the center of each plate and using a squeeze bottle or a small spoon, drizzle sauce around the edge of the mold. Remove mold and you should have a lovely little puck holding its shape.

Slice 3 small medallions of pork and arrange on top of the orzo. Top with the reserved caramelized shallot and mushroom mixture and garnish with fresh chives or flatleaf parsley, serve immediately.

Enjoy!