Pork Chops with Roasted Pears, Sage and Shallots
by Aimee
Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers! It’s a long weekend from coast to coast and I hope you are enjoying the time with family and friends.
This post was written and scheduled last week, so that I could spend my holiday baking pumpkin pies, roasting the turkey and dishing up dinner around my table. We’re hosting a wonderful big gang for a feast today and I am definitely in my happy place- the kitchen!
If you like, join me in the Simple Bites kitchen today (and any day!)by using Instagram Stories. First follow @aimeebourque on your Instagram app, and then tap on my profile picture to play the stories. Make sure you have the most recent update of the app.
Okay, now on to today’s recipe and a recipe round-up from our #EatSeasonal blogging group.
I’ve temporarily set aside apples in my kitchen and have been giving pears the spotlight instead. It’s a good decision, because dessert recipes such as Extra Crispy Pear Lavender Crisp and Spice Pear Gingerbread are essential for fall.
Pears are also delicious in savoury dishes, especially paired with garden herbs and young alliums (onions, garlic, etc). In today’s recipe, pears, fresh sage and braised shallots join forces to liven up a rather unexciting pan of pork chops.
Thanks to warm fall temperatures and no sign of frost yet, I still have a thriving herb plot with an abundance of green and purple sage. I paired sage with grilled chicken earlier in the summer, but I am finding that it is also excellent with bold flavoured fall dishes such as this roast pork.
Green Anjou pears are ripe and plentiful in Quebec right now. Most pears hold up very well to cooking (I also like to roast them for breakfast) as long as you prepare them when they are ‘firm-ripe’. Now I’m not sure if this is an official culinary term, but it happens when they are partially ripe, but before they are really soft. You get my drift!
| Pork Chops with Roasted Pears, Sage and Shallots | Print |
- 4 1-inch-thick bone-in pork chops (about 2 1/2 lbs)
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, divided
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 2 firm-ripe pears, washed, quartered and cored
- 5 medium shallots, peeled and quartered
- 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup apple juice
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped sage, loosely packed
- 2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- Heat a cast iron or heavy bottomed skillet over medium high heat. Preheat over to 400F. Have all ingredients prepped and ready to go.
- Pat pork chops dry with a paper town and season on both sides with 1/4 teaspoon of salt and the pepper. Heat olive oil in the pan and then carefully lower the pork chops into the pan with a pair of tongs.
- Sear pork for about 4 minutes on one side, allowing a dark crust to form. Flip the chop and cook for an additional 2 minutes. Remove from pan and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Arrange the quartered pears around the pork chops and send the pan to the oven. Roast for about 8 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the chop registers 130F.
- While the chops roast, reheat the cast iron skillet over medium high heat and tip in the shallots. Pour in the apple cider vinegar, apple juice and ginger. Scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned bits. Bring the mixture to a boil, then cover and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Remove pork chops and pears from the oven. With tongs, transfer the pears to the pan with the shallots to continue cooking them. Add any juices from the pork to the sauce. Set aside the pork to rest.
- Increase the heat to high under the sauce with pears and shallots. Sprinkle in the sage, pour in the maple syrup and add the remaining 1/4 teaspoon of salt.. Boil until the mixture reduces and thickens.
- Lower heat and return the pork chops to the pan, as well as any accumulated juices. Dot with butter and spoon the sauce over the pork as the butter melts. The reheated pork chops need to only reach about 145F. Don't overcook them!
- Plate the pork chop over rice or mashed potatoes and arrange the roasted pears and braised shallots around the pork. Spoon the sauce over the top and serve at once.
Eat Seasonal
From soup to salmon, cake to chili, here’s what else our #EatSeasonal group of bloggers have cooked up for October. These original recipe are straight up comfort food, so enjoy!
Roasted Root Vegetable Soup by Joy Food Sunshine
Turkey Pumpkin Pot Pie by Kitchen Confidante
Roasted Chicken with Figs and Butternut Squash by Vintage Mixer
Lentil Chile Rellenos with Creamy Walnut Sauce Letty’s Kitchen
Chorizo, Black Bean, and Kabocha Squash Chili by Flavor the Moments
Spiced Zucchini Pear Cake with Brown Butter Glaze by Completely Delicious
Orange Spiced Salmon with Spaghetti Squash by Foodie Crush
Marinated Zucchini with Red Peppers and Garlic Project Domestication
Roasted Red Cabbage Wedges with Za’atar by Floating Kitchen
Happy Thanksgiving!
Pork Chops with Roasted Pears, Sage and Shallotsis a post from Simple Bites
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