There are not many things I love more than preparing my grocery list to try new recipes over the weekend. Cooking upscale at home has become a passion of mine since we live an hour from any fancy restaurants.
Pork chops are an amazing meat to conquer the technicality of cooking. There are many factors to lock in the juiciness of a thick farm grown pork chop (I will always suggest finding them from a local farm or butcher). I used a 1-inch thick bone-in pork chop for this recipe and it came out perfect.
This meal is perfect for a dinner party or a at home date night. The combination of flavors and fun of plating can really wow anyone, even if cooking for just one!
Perfectly Juicy, Onion and Apple Bacon Pork Chops with Puree'd Squash
Never over cook your pork chops again. A flavor filled dinner that will impress all flavor profiles.
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Salt pork shops on both sides, cover and let rest at room temperature.
- Half and roast brussel sprouts season with oil, salt and pepper and place in oven
- Half and slice onion, set in skillet with 1 tbsp butter until caramelized, making sure to stir and splash water occasionally to not burn.
- Cut and boil squash until soft.
- Drain water from the squash and mash or blend with immersion blender until very smooth.
- Add salt, butter and adobe sauce to squash to taste.
- Pat dry pork chops and heat a skillet to medium/high heat, add oil and sear pork chops 1-3 minutes on each side depending on thickness.
- Turn off skillet heat and add butter, crushed fresh rosemary and chopped garlic to the skillet and baste the pork chops (see notes for more).
- Place pork chops in oven and bake for 10-15 minutes until the internal temperature of each piece is 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
Prepare the plate
- Dollop and spread squash puree onto a plate
- Place pork chop over puree and dress with a tbsp of bacon jam and spoon full of caramelized onion. Making sure to incorporate leftover garlic and rosemary from the basting drippings.
- Add roasted brussel sprouts or veggies of choice.
Notes
Salt pork up to 24 hours before cooking.
A dash of heavy cream or milk can dilute any extra heat from the chipotle and add a creamier texture.
A meat thermometer is not necessary but makes cooking pork so much easier. If you do not have one, cut into pork after 10 minutes in the oven, you should see subtle pink juice.
Basting is locking in juices to meat before finishing cooking. Tilt your pan towards you and use a spoon to mix and toss garlic rosemary butter overtop of the pork for a minute or two. The butter should give the pork a "risning" and fall back to the tilted skillet to continue to process.