If you read my exceedingly long post about 2nd grade a week or two ago, you would know that I had a thing for Peter Brady as a young girl. To this day I can not say pork chops with out thinking “Pork chawps and applesaws”. Remember that episode? Peter was trying to imitate Humphrey Bogart, I believe. It was really quite a stupid scene, why has it stuck in my head all these years? The whole time I was making this dinner I found myself rolling my upper lip up on my top teeth and saying “pork chapsh and applesawsh”. You probably find this quite strange and possibly kookookachoo. I know. It’s who I am, no excuses.
For this recipe you will need:
4 thick cut pork chops (you can use the thin chop or pork steaks if you prefer)
flour for dredging (about 1 cup)
4 tablespoons butter
1 large apple or two smaller, use a tart variety. I used Spy.
1 medium onion
5 sprigs of fresh rosemary
1/4 cup chicken broth or Chardonnay works fabulous if you just so happened to be opening a bottle. (Just a quick note. Saying “pork chapsh and applesawsh” is much easier after a glass of Chardonnay.)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 heaping tablespoon of Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
preheat oven to 375
Give your apple a little bath.
Then core, and slice. No need to peel.
Thinly slice the onion.
Put flour on plate or in a bowl, add a dash of salt and pepper. Dredge each pork chop in flour, so all sides are covered.
Place a sprig of rosemary on each chop.
Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in pan. Burner should be on medium heat.
When butter is melted and sizzling. Lie chop down with rosemary on the bottom side first.
Cook for 3-4minutes on each side. (If you have chosen a thinner cut of chop, you will need to adjust your cooking times)
Remove from pan on stove and place chops in an oven proof pan or on a cookie sheet to finish cooking. This should take 15-20 minutes. Now you can start your “applesawsh”.
Sometimes the butter in my frying pan burns, this is not good. You do not want to start your sauce with burnt butter. At least not for this recipe. Remove pan from the burner, and take a paper towel and quickly wipe out any burnt butter from pan.
Return pan to burner on medium heat. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in pan.
Now add the apple and onions to your pan. Do not add the 5th sprig of rosemary yet. You can quick give it a chop and save it until the very end.
Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar over apples and onions.
You want the apples and onions to start to caramelize. Move them around a little bit, but really you shouldn’t move them too much because you don’t want the apple to start breaking up.
Now add a salt and pepper to taste.
When apples start to brown around the edges add the Dijon mustard. If you are a mustard fan then go crazy, add 2 tablespoons.
Pour in your liquid of choice. Chicken broth or Chardonnay. Really any dry white wine would do. Chard just happens to be my favorite.
Now give it a gentle whisk making sure the mustard is completely spread throughout the sauce. Let this bubble for a minute then turn off your burner.
Add the remaining fresh rosemary.
Spoon some of the applesauce on plate and place your chop on top. Or if you want you can spoon it over the top. It’s really up to you.
Now get out a fork and knife and cut yourself a piece…..
Oh baby, this is really, really good! I served it with Roasted Squash Puree and Oven Roasted Redskin Potatoes. Really any vegetable would do. Roasted asparagus would be nice, too!
Enjoy!
When butter is melted and sizzling. Lie chop down with rosemary on the bottom side first.
Remove from pan on stove and place chops in an oven proof pan or on a cookie sheet to finish cooking. This should take 15-20 minutes. Now you can start your “applesawsh”.
That looks really yummy. And that Brady Bunch scene must have stuck in the brains of a lot of people because my dad used to say that all the time. 🙂
Oh, I want to make that! Thanks for sharing.
Mmmmm, sounds so yummy!