With sweet potatoes to complete the ensemble, these pork chops with fried apples and ginger are fall on a plate, and it’s a super-simple meal to make!
I mentioned in my apple dumplings post that when I think of Fall, I think of apples. If you’ve ever watched The Brady Bunch you’ll know why when I think of cooking some sort of meat to go with apples, I automatically think of pork chops. Can’t you all just hear Peter Brady saying, “Pork chops and APPLE SAUCE”? I can even picture his face as he said it. The funny thing is that I swear I saw every episode of the Brady Bunch, most of them more than once, as I watched them in syndication, but I apparently I missed that one. I can still hear Jan Brady saying, “Marcia, Marcia, MARCIA!” and Marcia saying, “Oh, my nose!” (but perhaps a lot of my memories are from watching the Brady Bunch Movie in high school), but I actually saw the “pork chops and apple sauce” scene on I Love the Seventies (I think, anyway).
I never once ate apples and pork chops together as a kid, and I sure never ate sweet potatoes with them (in fact, I swore that I didn’t like sweet potatoes-even though I don’t think I’d ever actually tried them-well into adulthood). Apparently other people in other places, though, had figured out that pork and apples were a perfect pair. I watched an episode of Master Chef recently where contestants had to make a savory dish using apples. Every single one of them made something with pork. It’s a classic pairing, and adding ginger to the mix adds just the right amount of kick.
With sweet potatoes to complete the ensemble, these pork chops with fried apples and ginger are Fall on a plate!
Mary
Yield: 4 servings
20 minPrep Time:
20 minCook Time:
40 minTotal Time:
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Ingredients
- 3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled & chopped
- 8 T. butter, divided
- 4 large green apples, peeled & chopped
- 2 t. minced ginger
- 2 T. olive oil
- 4 boneless pork chops, about 1-inch thick (about 1.25 lbs)
- salt & black pepper
- 3 T. maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon, divided
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the sweet potatoes in a medium (3-quart) saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until soft.
- While the sweet potatoes are cooking, melt 6 tablespoons of the butter in a 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add the apple and the ginger to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, until soft.
- While the sweet potatoes and apples are cooking, season the pork chops with salt and pepper. Preheat the olive oil over medium heat in a 10-inch skillet. Brown on each side for 2-3 minutes, until caramelized. Place in the oven for 3-4 minutes, until just barely pink in the middle and the temperature registers 140-145 degrees in the thickest part. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
- Add two tablespoons of the maple syrup and 1/2 teaspoon of the cinnamon to the apples. Drain the sweet potatoes and mash with a potato masher. Stir in the cream, 2 tablespoons of butter, 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon into the sweet potatoes.
- Serve the pork chops topped with the apples alongside the sweet potatoes.
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