Serces: 6

This is just a wonderful bit of Provincial bistro cooking. So tasty, so simple, so warming.

Nat cooked this for lunch in the heart of winter last year and it totally nailed the brief.

French cooking luxury on a budget.

Ingredients

50gm butter for pork
6 foreloin pork chops
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into lengths

Onion mustard sauce

25gm butter
3 onions, chopped
350ml dry sherry
150ml chicken stock
150ml pure cream
3 generous tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp cornflour mixed with 2 tbsp water

Garlic cabbage

25gm butter
2 large onions, chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 – 5 large garlic cloves, crushed
3 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley (stalks and all)
1/4 cabbage, finely sliced

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180c.
2. Heat 50gm butter in a fry pan over a medium heat and sauté the pork chops for 5 minutes each side, turning until golden. Transfer the chops to a casserole dish.
3. To make the onion mustard sauce, heat the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat and sauté the onions for 5 minutes until soft though not coloured. Add the sherry, stock, cream and mustard, then stir the cornflour mixture in to thicken. Simmer for 2 minutes, then add to the casserole dish with the chops. Season with salt and pepper and cover with a lid.
4. Cook in the oven for 40 minutes, then add the apple and cook for another 10 minutes, until the apple pieces are soft but not falling apart. Remove all the fat from the top using a spoon or a ladle.
5. To make the garlic cabbage, heat the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat and sauté for 5 minutes until soft though not coloured. Add salt, pepper and garlic and sauté for 1 – 2 minutes and add the parsley. Add the cabbage and toss for a couple of minutes until the cabbage is heated through and coated with the buttery mixture, but still crisp.
6. Serve the pork with the garlic cabbage.