I didn’t get into drinking beer until recently, and before
that I was primarily into ciders. This
recipe got me thinking about making a sauce with hard cider and apples (the
most natural pork accoutrement). What
resulted were juicy pork chops and a low sugar chunky applesauce.
Pork Chops and “Drunken” Applesauce
2 Granny Smith Apples
1 t cinnamon
½ t ground nutmeg
1 t brown sugar
1 t vanilla extract
1 bottle hard apple cider*
1 T Extra virgin olive oil (or fat of choice – coconut oil, butter,
etc.)
4 thick-cut pork chops (about an inch thick, boneless or
bone-in)
1 T cornstarch
Additional brown sugar to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
Peel core and dice the apples and place in a bowl. Sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, vanilla
extract, and a tiny dash of salt and toss to coat. Add the apple cider to the bowl and set
aside.
In a large skillet, heat EVOO over medium high heat. Sprinkle both sides of the pork chops
liberally with salt and pepper. Place
pork chops in the hot oil and let sear for 1-2 minutes until pork is golden
brown. Flip chops and repeat. Remove chops to a plate and set aside (the
middle will still be raw).
Add the apples mixture to the hot pan (make sure you scrape
the bottom of the bowl to get all the cinnamon and nutmeg) and heat to
boiling. Reduce the heat to medium and
add the pork chops back to the pan.
(Make sure to nestle them down into the apples.) Cook chops for 15-20 minutes (20-25 for bone-in
chops) flipping halfway though cooking. Set
chops aside.
In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch and a tablespoon or two
of cool water to dissolve the cornstarch and add to the pan of apples. Stir and bring to a boil over medium high heat
until sauce is thickened. Taste for
sweetness and add more brown sugar (if needed) until you’ve reached your
desired level of sweetness (make sure to heat, melt and mix in the sugar each
time you add more).
Serve your pork chops with the chunky applesauce. Enjoy!
Alternately, you can make this applesauce without the pork
chops.
Drunken Apple Sauce
Peel, core and dice apples as before. Toss with the same dry ingredients, but do
not add the cider. Melt 1 T butter in a
skillet and sauté the apples over medium high heat for 5 minutes until apples
are slightly softened. Add the cider,
stir and reduce heat to medium. Simmer
mixture for 10-15 minutes until apples are very soft. Add the same cornstarch slurry and bring to a
boil to thicken sauce. Add additional
sugar if needed.
*You can substitute apple juice or regular apple cider if
you don’t wish to cook with alcohol, however the alcohol will cook off. If you substitute with juice, eliminate the
sugar.
