Pork Chops with Apples, Calvados and Mustard Sauce

, from Issue #17. September, 2015
Photography by Damien Van Der Vlist.
Pork Chops with Apples, Calvados and Mustard Sauce

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS

4 thick-cut pork chops
½ cup seasoned flour

Sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil knob of butter
3 Braeburn apples, peeled, cored and sliced
pinch of sugar
3 tablespoons Calvados or brandy
1½ cups chicken stock
100 grams crème fraîche
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

METHOD

Slash the back fat on the chops in several places to stop them curling as they cook.

Heat a sauté pan with the oil and drop in the butter. Add the apples and sugar and cook until tender and lightly golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Dust the chops in flour, shaking off the excess. Cook them for 5 minutes each side over a medium heat. Add the calvados or brandy and allow it to bubble up and evaporate. Add the stock and simmer until reduced by half. Add the crème fraîche, mustard and the apples to the pan and simmer for another few minutes. Season and stir in the flat leaf parsley.

To serve: Place the pork chops and apples on warm plates and spoon over the sauce. Sautéed red cabbage and boiled waxy potatoes make a good accompaniment. 

Pantry Note: Calvados is an apple brandy from the French region of Lower Normandy.