Pork chops baked with sweet potatoes

We do not eat much red meat in our house. We usually eat chicken or fish, with occasional beef, lamb or pork. I have thought about stopping eating meat, but I admit that I really enjoy a steak or chop occasionally and we both enjoy good sausages every now and then!

I remember that I grew up and my mother cooked pork chops for our dinner, you could have used them to slide your roof. They had the wrong idea back then, in the old days. . . that you really had to boil pork.

While pork still needs to be cooked, you do not have to overcook them and cook the flavor out. Brining is a good way to keep them nice and wet. Bones in pork chops are also less likely to dry out than boneless cutlets.

I also think that stewing the oven, after a first browning on top of the stove, also helps to maintain their printability and taste.

In this recipe I share with you today, the chops quickly turn brown in a frying pan and then stewed in the oven on a bed of sweet potatoes and onions to finish them off.

This is a dish that I love to serve in the winter months, if we don't mind that the oven is on and we have more appetite.

The pork chops / potatoes / onions are stewed in a mixture of apple juice and maple syrup, which also adds a number of nice flavor layers.

I like to brown my onions really well before I put them in the pan. This gives the dish a little sweetness. . . sticky, golden fried onions are a real taste buds! And the smell. . . it can't be right!

You do not have to use apple juice. . . orange juice or pineapple juice would also work very well. . .

just like hard cider. . . or even just some chicken broth. It is really up to you. I love the taste that the apple juice lends to the overall dish.

Simple ingredients well done. This is a fantastic meal for a dish. I love to serve some petit pois on the side and of course apple sauce is another tasty addition!

Yield: 2Writer: Marie Rayner

Pork chops baked with sweet potatoes

preparation time: 15 minutescooking time: 50 minutestotal time: 65 minutes

This meal in a dish can be adapted to many tastes. You can use sage or summer savory instead of thyme, or ground seeds such as fennel, coriander or juniper. Honey instead of Maple Syrup would also work well.

ingredients:

• 2 TBS sunflower oil
• 250 g sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced ​​(1/2 pound)
• fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 medium brown onions, peeled and sliced
• the leaves of 3 - 4 sprigs of thyme
• 2 pork loin chops, fat edge cut
• (this helps prevent the cutlets from curling)
• 1 TBS pure maple syrup
• 75 ml apple juice (1/3 cup)

instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 * C / 350 * F / gas indication 4. Butter a baking dish in the shallow oven. Put aside.
2. Prepare your vegetables. Divide the sweet potatoes in the baking dish, sprinkle with salt and pepper and a little thyme.
3. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the onions and fry until golden brown. Remove from the pan and spread over the potatoes. Sprinkle a little more thyme on top. Season the pork chops and quickly fry them on both sides in the pan. Place them on the vegetables in the frying pan and sprinkle with the remaining thyme. Beat the maple syrup and apple juice together. Pour everything over and then cover it well with foil.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. To discover. Lower the oven temperature to 150 * C / 300 * F / gas indication 2. Place the dish back in the oven and bake for another 10 minutes to let the chops and potatoes turn a little brown. Spoon on heated plates to serve. I like to serve a green vegetable with this.

You can double or triple this recipe by increasing the amounts accordingly and baking in a much larger gratin. The cooking time must remain the same.

Of course, a good set of knives is probably the best tool you can have in the kitchen. I recently received this Taylor & # 39; s Eye Witness Rose Gold Knives to use and try. They are very beautiful knives, with an attractive rose gold bolster and finger protector. They also have comfortable handles with a soft grip. They have a hard titanium-plated blade, with super-sharp hollow sharpened blades, which are hard to blunt and come with a 2-year warranty on no complaints. While she to be Dishwasher safe, hand washing is recommended, use a plastic washing-up brush in warm soapy water and then dry it immediately with a soft cloth. It is not recommended to use abrasives for washing. Regular sharpening helps keep the edges sharp. There is nothing more dangerous in the kitchen than a boring knife. I found that they worked very well and was very impressed by their ability to cut my onions and sweet potatoes into nice thin slices without any difficulty. This set consists of the Brooklyn Rose Gold 2-part kitchen knife set, consisting of a Santuko knife of 6 1/2 inch, a 5-inch knife for all purposes and a 4-inch knife. I have been very impressed with their performance so far and I know I will really like to use it in my kitchen!

Here is a handy kitchen tip, when I cut something with rounded corners, such as an onion or potato, I find it very useful to cut a thin edge on one side so that the vegetables can sit on the cutting board without rolling around.

It works charmingly and is a much safer way to cut things into thin slices.

Note - although I was allowed to use these knives free of charge, all opinions are my own opinion.