Maple Pork with Fennel and Apple

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone reading I hope it is going well for everyone. I would post a what I will make tonight but due to the lack of variety in my husband's favorite foods he has requested pizza for Valentine's day dinner and being the good wife I am I suppose I will oblige. Any-who, this is the first time while cooking on a whim that I decided to try and denote what I was doing needless to say it is a little crazy and hard to read so forgive me if this isn't great. I use this chutney/sautee alot when cooking pork because lets face it pork and apples taste amazing together (that's why we all like the classic pork and apple sauce) well this dish is kind of a nod to the classic and I hope everyone gets to try it out. This is the first time I used this method with the pork itself thought and I think it turned out pretty well. You can break down this recipe and use it separately but together it makes a pretty full meal and you get your vegetables in a sneaky yet delicious way. Enjoy.

Ingredients

4 slices of bacon thinly sliced 

1/2 bulb of fennel chopped small (some stores call it anise) 

1 red onion chopped small

1/2 yellow pepper chopped small

1 stalk of celery chopped small

1 carrot chopped small

1 medium sized apple chopped small (I used a Gala apple)

1/2 cup white wine divided

1/2 cup chicken stock

3 TBS butter divided

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp granulated garlic

1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans

2 TBS Maple Syrup (not pancake syrup)

1 tsp honey

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

2 cloves garlic minced

4-6 thinly sliced pork chops

1 tsp olive oil

1/2 lb egg noodles cooked and strained 

Salt and Pepper

For the Sautee

Add bacon to a cold large pan (I used a 5 qt dutch oven) and turn heat to medium low. Cook bacon until most of the fat is rendered out and the bacon is crispy. Remove the bacon and set aside. 

Add the fennel, onion, pepper, celery, and carrot to the pot that has the bacon fat in it and sautee until soft about 8-10 minutes. Then add the apple and sautee for another 5 minutes. Deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of white wine*

*If you would like to serve this as more of a chutney then you may stop now if you want a sauce then read on.

When the pan looks dry again deglaze with another 1/4 cup of white wine and add 1 TBS of butter. Stir until all of the butter is melted and take out 1 cup of the sautee mixture. Then add in the chicken stock and remaining butter. Wait for the butter to melt and then puree. You can do this in a blender or use a hand blender. The sauce will be very thick you can add more chicken stock or starchy water if you want to thin it out. I just tossed 1/2 lb of egg noodles in it and it was fine. 

For the Pork

Salt and Pepper both sides of the meat.

In a small bowl combine maple syrup, honey, red pepper flakes, garlic, and pepper. Mix well and then brush liberally on both sides of the pork chops.*  

* you could grill these and they would be fantastic it is cold out so I just pan fried them

For indoor cooking turn heat to medium high and heat 1 TBS of olive oil and 1 TBS of butter in a pan, once the butter is melted and the pan is really hot place the pork chops in. If they are really thin like mine where they only need about two minutes on each side.

To serve I tossed the noodles in with the thick pureed sauce and topped them with the reserved bacon and toasted pecans then served the pork on top with the reserved veg sautee on top of that. Then I sprinkled a bit of parsley for color. Here is a bad photo of that.

I hope you try this out. Let me know how you like it and feel free to change it up and make it your own. That is how I develop things and make them taste better.

Enjoy!
Krystle