Happy Monday everybody! Today we are going to take a look at a really delicious recipe for pork chops. This recipe uses an ingredient some of you may not be familiar with, fennel. Fennel has a very mild anise or black licorice flavour but don't let that throw you off. It can be eaten cooked as we're doing today, but it is also fantastic cut very thin and served raw in salads.
This pork chop recipe uses fennel sautéd with onions, garlic, and thyme then finishes with white wine, dijon mustard, and lemon to make both the sauce and a vegetable component for the dish. I served the pork with mashed potatoes and steamed green beans. Oh yeah, and I'm going to show you how you can make all of this in under 30 minutes.
You know the drill, let's get to it. This is...
8:35 pm - Potatoes
I started cooking really late last night, it was a busy day. So, I was thankful going into this that it was only going to take a maximum of 30 minutes. The first thing I had to do was get the potatoes going.
I peeled two russet potatoes and then diced them into roughly 1-inch cubes. Then I rinsed them in cold water until the water ran clear, changed the cold water out for hot water, added a big pinch of salt and put the pot on the stove on high.
8:38 pm - Onions and Fennel
With the potatoes on the stove it was time to start prepping the ingredients for the sauce. I cut the top and bottom off of a small onion, peeled it and thinly sliced it. Then I cut the fennel bulb into quarters, one quarter is all I need for this recipe. The rest of the fennel can be used in salads, or cut into thick slices, drizzled with olive oil and roasted on 400°f to make a nice side dish. I cut the core out of the fennel quarter and then thinly sliced it to match the onions.
At this point, I also peeled and sliced 2 cloves of garlic and got 2 sprigs of thyme ready for the pan.
8:42 pm - Dry The Pork Chops
With all the sauce ingredients ready to go it was pork time. I took two center-cut pork rib chops, patted them dry with a paper towel, and seasoned them on both sides with salt and pepper. While I was doing this I heated a large frying pan over medium-high heat.
8:45 pm - Sear the Pork Chops
It took about 3 minutes for the pan to heat up. Once it was hot I add about 1 tablespoon of grapeseed oil to the pan along with the pork chops. I cooked the pork for about 3 minutes per side then removed them from the pan and turned the heat down to medium.
8:51 pm - Starting the Sauce
The pork was seared off, cooked about 50% through and out of the pan. Now it was time for the fennel and onions. These got cooked for 3 minutes before adding in the garlic and thyme which was then cooked for an additional 2 minutes.
8:55 pm - Adding in the Wine
At this point, the fennel and onions were starting to soften and the garlic was becoming very aromatic. With that, in goes the wine. When you add in the wine make sure to scrape any brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. This will help to flavour your sauce and make cleaning the pan much easier later on.
The wine cooked for about 1 minute then I added in a ½ cup of hot water along with the pork chops.
At this point, I also put the green beans in hot water and then on the stove on high. To prep them I just cut the ends off.
8:56 pm - Mashing the Potatoes
At this point, the potatoes were cooked. I drained them, added in some cream, butter, and salt and pepper then mashed them. That was it.
8:59 pm - Flip the Pork
Once the potatoes were mashed I flipped the pork, cooked for 2 more minutes to finish cooking them through then took them out of the pan.
9:01 pm - Pork Chops out of the pan
To finish the sauce I add in 1 big tablespoon of Dijon mustard and 1 big tablespoon of butter along with the juice from ½ a lemon. I whisked this and cooked it until it was thick.
9:02 pm - Green Beans
By 9:02 the green beans were done. All that was left was to let the sauce thicken up a bit more so I started plating. Potatoes first, then green beans, then pork.
9:03 - Finish Dinner
Once everything was on the plate the sauce was done so I spooned it over the pork. Delicious!!
Conclusion
This is a really fantastic recipe that I've actually been making for years. Obviously, this is only for 2 people because it was just my wife and me eating but the recipe could easily be bumped up to serve 4-6.
If you are looking for something new and delicious to do with pork chops, this is it.
Ingredients
Pork
- 2 ea Center Cut Pork Rib Chops
- ½ c Thinly Cut Fennel
- ½ c Thinly Sliced Onions
- 2 sprigs Thyme
- 1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
- ¼ c White Wine
- ½ cup Hot Water or Stock
- 2 cloves Garlic, Sliced
- 1 tablespoon Grape Seed Oil
Potatoes
- 2 ea Russet Potatoes
- 1 teaspoon Butter
- 3 tablespoon Cream
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Green Beans
- 1 cup Trimmed Green Beans
- 1 teaspoon Butter
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
Pork
- Pat the pork dry with a paper towel.
- Season on both sides with salt and pepper.
- Heat a large frying pan on medium-high heat and add the oil.
- Sear the pork on both sides then remove from the pan.
- Add the onion and fennel and cook for 4-5 minutes.
- Add in the garlic and thyme and cook for 1 minute.
- Pour the wine into the pan and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the pork chops back into the pan along with the water.
- Simmer the pork for 3 minutes then flip and cook for 2 more minutes.
- Remove the pork from the pan, and whisk in the butter and mustard. Cook until thick.
- Serve sauce over pork chops.
Potatoes
- Peel and dice potatoes.
- Rinse in cold water.
- Cover with hot water by 1 inch.
- Season the water with ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt.
- Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are fork-tender.
- Drain the potatoes add the cream, butter and season with salt and pepper.
- Mash and serve.
Green Beans
- Trim the ends off of the green beans.
- Put in a pot and cover with hot water.
- Bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes.
- Drain the beans and season with salt, pepper, and butter.
- Serve.
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