What's For Dinner
October 19 2007
Quick Dinner: Pork Chops and Apple Sauce with Warm Bacon and Cranberry Salad
This is a fall meal that is so good you'll want it every night. It's easy too!
For the Apple Sauce:
6 medium apples (winesap, fuji, and granny smith are good options)
2 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of lemon juice (or the juice from 1 large lemon)
1/3 cup of honey (I like Kinnerty Farms because it's really local)
1 teaspoon salt
Heat your oven to 425 degrees.
Peel, core and largely chop your apples. They don't have to be exact since you're going to smush them later. Melt the butter in a oven proof pan over medium-high heat. Add your apples and cook for about 5-10 mintues or until the apples start to get light brown. Remove from the heat and add the salt, lemon juice and honey. Stir together and place in the oven. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the apples are soft.
Remove from the oven and smush to make a chunky apple sauce.
For the Pork Chops:
2 thick cut bone-in pork chops
salt
pepper
1 tablespoon of fresh chopped sage
3-4 tablespoons of olive oil
Season the pork chops well with salt and pepper. Rub the sage on both sides. In a oven ready sautee pan, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Add the pork chops to the pan and let them cook for about 5 minutes. Do not move them around. After 5 minutes, turn them over and let them cook for another 5 minutes. Place the pan in the 425 degree oven to finish cooking to your desired doneness.
For the Salad:
4 strips of bacon
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup dried cranberries
3 cups of mixed field greens
2 ounces of goat cheese
Heat a small fryin pan over medium heat. Chop the bacon into small pieces and add to the pan. Cook unti the bacon is crispy. Drain some of the grease if there is more than a tablespoon. Add the garlic and the thyme to the bacon and cook for about a minute. Add the vinegar and scrape the bottom of the pan. Let the vinegar simmer for a few minutes until it's reduced by half (meaning that there should be half of the 1/3 cup that you added in the first place). Turn off the heat and allow to cool a little. Add the olive oil to make a salad dressing.
When you're ready to eat, mix the salad greens, the cranberries, and the goat cheese together in a bowl and top with the warm dressing. Don't do this ahead of time as the lettuce will wilt and get soggy.