March 3 – March 9, 2025

Monday:                               Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup with Crostini

Tuesday:                               Leftover Soup / Italian Roast Pork Sandwiches

Wednesday:                       Pasta with Porcini Ragù

Thursday:                             Pork Chops with Apples and Bacon

Friday:                                   Lou Malnati’s Pizza – courtesy Paul and Nancy

Saturday:                              Another Pizza (from Paul & Nancy) – we were tired

Sunday:                                 Vinegar Chicken, Red Rice App of Soft-shell Crab

PIG AND APPLES

Pork chops, apples and bacon go together like spaghetti, marinara and meatballs, or turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes (yes, I know cranberry sauce also works, but we’re talking triplets here), and Evers to Tinkers to Chance (look it up).  And if you add mustard and the distilled essence of the apple (cider) to the savory conjunction of pork chops, apples and bacon, you will have a dish fit not only for a chilly March evening but for a god.

If you don’t eat pork, I get it and I can help you with future recipes, but not with this one.

If you don’t like pork, I don’t get it – I can see the religious objections but not the culinary ones.  Bacon, pork loin, slow-roasted pork shoulder, barbecued ribs, pork roast, pork sausages – these are gifts that countless generations of ancestors have bequeathed us.  Have a little gratitude for heaven’s sake, and eat a BLT or just a plain ham sandwich once in a while – preferably, thin shavings of Virginia Ham with a sliced tomato (salted), iceberg lettuce and mayo on lightly toasted bread, with a dill pickle on the side.  (Excuse me, I need to have some lunch before continuing this post.)

I presume that even the fussy eater, eternally concerned with what is sustainable or gluten-free or less caloric or whatever odd limitation or restriction they choose to place on their diet, will allow that apples are okay (I’ll check for Alar, I promise).  The only other hurdle you need to clear to enjoy this dish is to have no objection to the herb sage – and indeed, who would be so unwise as to oppose sage?  (I find myself channeling Billy’s word play more often than I’d like.)

This dish is addictive and the halved apples, if seared well, taste like a solid, very good apple sauce – a surprising and delightful added reason to cook these chops and drop whatever aversion to porcine cuisine you have been harboring. 

And for those of you who have other, irrational aversions to certain foods, never fear:  I’m planning future posts to deal with icthyophobia, columbophobia and ostraconophobia.  (Channeling son William again.)

PORK CHOPS WITH APPLES AND BACON

(adapted from Food & Wine, September, 2024)

Timing:                                                    30 – 40 minutes

Ingredients:                                                   Serves 4

4 bone-in rib-cut pork chops, 1-inch thick (we had thinner, boneless chops – they work, don’t cook as long

3 small Fuji apples

4 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped

1 cup apple cider

2 Tbsp Dijon mustard

2 sprigs sage, 2 large shallots, sliced (about a cup)

1 tsp black pepper, 2 ½ tsp Kosher salt, 2 Tbsp canola oil, 2 tsp all-purpose flour

Prep:

Preheat oven to 400 F

Halve two of the apples and slice the third one thinly – cover with plastic wrap.

Slice shallots

Season pork chops with pepper and 2 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt.

Cook:

Heat the oil in a large, oven-safe skillet over medium-high  until just smoking and cook pork chops until browned on one side – about 4 minutes.  Transfer chops to a plate, browned side up.

Wipe out skillet and add bacon, cooking over medium and stirring occasionally until crisp – maybe 7 minutes.  Transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate, reserving the drippings in the skillet.

Return the skillet with drippings to medium-high.  Add sage and halve apples, cut-side down and cook undisturbed until the sage crisps (2 minutes or so).  Transfer sage to plate with bacon.

Now add the sliced apple and the shallots to the skillet with the halved apples and cook, stirring often until shallots are soft – 4 minutes or a bit longer.  Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute and then add the apple cider and mustard and cook, stirring constantly until the sauce is smooth – maybe 3 minutes.  Add in the remaining ¼ tsp of salt and remove from the heat.

Place the pork chops, browned side up, in the skillet, nestling the halved apples between them (turn the apples cut-side up).  Sprinkle the bacon over (reserve the sage for garnish) and place the skillet in the preheated oven and bake until a thermometer in the thickest part of the chop registers 140 F – 10-15 minutes.

Remove from oven, add some Maldon salt (or Kosher), if needed, garnish with sage leaves and serve from the skillet.