Mustard-roast pork chops with apples & sage
Here’s a celebration of some of Suffolk’s finest ingredients… free-range pork, cox apples, and Aspall Cyder Vinegar. This dish has an intriguing and pleasing sweet & sour profile thanks to the wholegrain mustard vinaigrette made with Aspall’s cyder vinegar - the potatoes, onions and apples are tossed with the dressing before roasting, and the pork chops are brushed with the dressing half-way through cooking which helps to form a glaze.
The boiled lentils are tossed with wholegrain mustard dressing and give this dish a truly comforting and nourishing feel. The dish can be served at room temperature in the summer, perhaps with a green salad, or piping hot in the winter with some steam greens such as kale.
Prep time: 15-20 minutes (exc. 4 hrs soaking time, and the prep time for a batch of wholegrain mustard dressing)
Cook time: 30 minutes
This recipe serves 4 people as a main course.
Ingredients :
200 g (1 cup) green or black lentils
2-3 small onions
2-3 cox apples
16 new potatoes
16 sage leaves
6-8 tbsp wholegrain mustard dressing
½ tsp flakey sea salt
generous twist of black pepper
4 large pork chops
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp flakey sea salt
Green salad or cavolo nero, to serve
Method:
Soak your lentils in a generous amount of cold water for 4 hours.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and have an oven rack near the top.
Allow your pork chops to come to room temperature and pat them dry with kitchen paper.
Drain and rinse the lentils, cover generously with fresh, salted water, and bring to a gentle simmer for 20 minutes, or until cooked.
Prepare the vegetables for the roasting tray: peel the onions and slice into thin half-moons through the root; cut the apples into eighths and remove the core; halve the new potatoes lengthways; pick the sage leaves from their stalks.
Toss the vegetables with 4 tablespoons of wholegrain mustard dressing and scatter evenly over a roasting tray.
Brush the flesh of the pork chops very lightly with oil, but avoid the skin. Sprinkle each with sea salt and nestle these into your roasting tray.
Roast at the top of the preheated oven for 30 minutes in total, but after the first 15 minutes remove the tray, turn the heat up to 220, flip the pork chops, and brush the newly exposed side with 2-4 tablespoons of wholegrain mustard dressing. Continue cooking for a further 15 minutes.
Drain the lentils and allow the steam to billow off well; this is key to avoid heavy, soggy lentils. Once dry, dress with 2 tablespoons of wholegrain mustard dressing and a pinch of salt.
Serve the two together at the table with a green salad, or steamed greens, depending on the season.
If you’ve made a batch of wholegrain mustard dressing, perhaps try this speedy and delicious pea & potato salad, or our favourite beetroot dish with feta and caramelised walnuts…
Wine pairing?
A Chenin Blanc will serve you very very well here. Seek out a richer off-dry Chenin from Savennières in Loire. Much like the sweet/sour profile of this dish, it offers bright and bracing acidity coupled with sweeter, yellow fruit flavours such as Golden Delicious apples and yellow pears.