recipe – Lora Knows Home

This nourishing fall dish contains all of the flavors of the season, including apple cider, pears and cloves. It’s delicious with a seasonal salad.

Ingredients: for pork chops

2 cups apple cider
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
4 bone-in center-cut pork chops
2 tablespoons (¼ stick) salted butter, for cooking

Ingredients: for pear sauce

4 tablespoons (½ stick) salted butter
2 pears, cored and cut into ½ -inch-thick slices
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
½ cup chicken stock
6 whole cloves
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper

Directions:

To make the pork chops, combine the apple cider, salt, and pepper in a medium casserole pan or deep dish.
Place the pork chops in the mixture, ensuring that all of the meat is submerged. Cover and refrigerate for two hours.
To make the sauce, melt the butter in a medium saucepan on medium heat. Add the pears and cook until tender. Add flour and gently turn the pears, taking care that they don’t break. Add the chicken stock, cloves, salt, and pepper. Remove the pork chops from the cider and pour the cider into the pear mixture. Allow it to come to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer.
In a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter on medium-high heat and cook the pork chops approximately 3 to 4 minutes per side or until cooked through.
Plate the pork chops and generously ladle the pear sauce on top, removing any cloves

Recipe excerpted from “The Kerber’s Farm Cookbook: A Year’s Worth of Seasonal Country Cooking” by Nick Voulgaris III. All images © Lindsay Morris. Rizzoli, 2019.