Easy and Elegant Life’s Cider Sauced Pork Chops

(Forgive the once green beans. My Southern side came out and let me ignore them for far too long.)

The Easy and Elegant Lifestyle advocates taking advantage of what’s around you. Live well, well within your means. The one inch thick center cut porkchops were deeply discounted for immediate sale at the grocery. I had a bottle of hard cider languishing at the back of the refrigerator and thought they might like to meet. They got along famously.

The Easy and Elegant Life’s Cider Sauced Porkchops for Two.

2, 1-inch thick, center cut porkchops, on the bone.
1/2 bottle of hard cider
1/4 cup of cider vinegar
1 packet of Splenda
Approx. 1/4 cup of Maple Syrup
Approx. 1 teaspoon caraway seeds, mixed with half as many sesame seeds (an accident….)
Approx. 1 Tablespoon of minced thyme (fresh) or 1/2 Tbs. dried.
1-2 small take away packet(s) of soy sauce
Heaping Tablespoon of whole grain mustard
Heaping Tablespoon of brown or Dijon mustard

Vegetable oil for browning the chops.
Salt and Pepper
Parsley for garnish.

Rinse and pat dry the chops. Season with salt and pepper. Heat a skillet (my flame was medium high heat.) Toss in the seeds and toast for about 2 minutes. They’ll be fragrant. Crush them up in a bowl and add the remaining ingredients for the glaze.

Reheat the skillet with the oil over medium high heat until it’s smoking hot. Add in the chops and brown well for 5 minutes or so (they will spatter a bit, be careful. A splash screen is useful here.) Flip and brown the other side for about 2 minutes. Transfer to a platter and tent with tin foil. Pour off the oil from the skillet. Drop the chops back in with the more browned side up. Add in the sauce ingredients. Cook until they are just done. Mine took about 10 minutes (I let them get up to about 150º – 160º internal temperature and they were still juicy, but not violently pink.) Kill the heat and remove to the platter and tent again. Let them rest for a few minutes while you sauté the green beans (or microwave them for about a minute) with butter.

Pour any pan juices from the platter into your sauce and stir constantly over medium heat for about 3-4 minutes (or longer.) Just don’t burn the sauce; you want it to sort of caramelize. Return the chops to the pan, turn to coat. Plate with the well browned side up and pour some of the sauce over, garnish with a bit of green parsley.

You could drink cider with these, but a Viognier or Vouvray would really fit the bill. As would a green salad lightly dressed with walnut oil.