Pork Chops with Apples and Potatoes

Twenty-four hours before, we were in Philadelphia, the so-called sixth borough of New York City. It was like summer and everyone was out walking and enjoying the weather. From the Reading Terminal Market, we picked up some purple potatoes and apples, a bunch of arugula and escarole. We planned to cook a nice fish dinner back in New York City with the fresh produce we stuffed in my canvas bag. Alas, there were no more whole fish at Eli’s grocery store when we stopped by in the upper east side so we moved to Plan B. We bought two pork chops from the back and I thought of baking them with the Fujis. The Dr. was exhausted and just wanted to leave the cooking to me. I’ve done a similar dish before using red and white wines, but we were starving and this had to be fairly easy and quick. We snacked on the beef jerky we bought from Philly and drank the Hungarian red brought by co-workers from Budapest while we caught up with New York City news.

Ingredients:
2 pork chops
1 Fuji apple, peeled, sliced
1 onion, finely chopped
5 small purple potatoes, halved
1 cup veal stock
2 tbsp mustard
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 cloves
salt, pepper, oil

1. Preheat oven to 375º. Sprinkle pork chops with salt and pepper.
2. In a large skillet, heat some oil and brown the pork chops on both sides. Remove to a plate. Using the same skillet, sauté onions while scraping the bottom of the pan to include the pork bits. Remove to another plate.
3. In a small bowl, combine stock with mustard, sugar and cloves. Whisk and season with some salt and pepper.
4. Transfer pork chops to a baking dish. Add potatoes around them. Top with caramelized onions and pour in flavored stock. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes, turning chops over during the last 15 minutes of cooking. Remove the chops to a chopping board and let rest while the potatoes roast for another 15 minutes.

Related post/s:
My first pork chops with apples included white and red wines
Craving pork chops after Ramadan in Tunisia
Pork chops with summer cherries