Caramel Apple Pork Chops is quick to make and makes a wonderful alternative
to the annual bird offering. Traditions are funny things, often there isn’t
one, it just gets fabricated to promote tribal belonging. Of course as someone
once said “Just because something is traditional is no reason to do it.”
When my fifth grade teacher branded me an “anarchist bandleader”,
it was a warning sign for my parents. As far as I can remember I always waged a
fight against tradition, I even found my sapiosexual soul mate for my secret and
not so secret wars. When we were young, we used to stay up until two in the
morning talking. This was always interesting with a history-philosophy major so
forty-eight years later we are still at it, though not so late into the night. The
two of us managed to live a conventional life and the truth only surfaced occasionally.
But when it did it always wrecked havoc and uprooted some type of “tradition”. With
that in mind, I thought Caramel Apple Pork Chops would be a perfect choice for
Canadian Thanksgiving. I have my thoughts on the Fruits of The Fall Harvest and
the Thanksgiving Myth but I will leave that for another dish.
CARAMEL APPLE PORK CHOPS
4 to 6 slices of medium thick, boneless pork loin chops
3 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp oil [I used grape seed]
1 large red onion, sliced
salt to taste
1 very large yellow delicious apple
1/8 cup of cream cheese
1/4 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup + rose wine
- Wash the pork chops and pat dry with paper towel. [Blood sticking to the meat is not great flavouring]
- Place the chops on a tray and lightly sprinkle with salt.
- Cover with plastic film and set aside on the counter for 1 hour.
- Slice the red onion and set aside.
- Heat a non-stick skillet on slightly higher than medium heat.
- Add the butter and the oil.
- Add the pork chops to the skillet and sauté, turning over until cooked through.
- Quarter the apple, leaving on the skin, and remove the cores.
- Cut each quarter into 3 even slices. Set aside.
- Transfer the chops to a dish and set aside.
- There should be sufficient buttery oil left in the skillet, if not add a bit of butter and oil.
- Add the onions to skillet and sprinkle with salt.
- Add the apple slices and sauté for a couple of minutes stirring with a wooden spoon.
- When the onions began to caramelize, add the wine.
- Add the pork chops and sauté for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the pork chops. The alcohol will cook off, but the flavour will retain.
- Transfer the chops to a medium Dutch pot and set aside.
- Stir the cream cheese into the remaining onion and apple mixture in the skillet.
- Add the heavy cream and give it a good stir.
- Immediately pour the contents of the skillet over the chops.
- Heat though and serve.
