Baked Pork Chops with Cinnamon Apples

There’s always a first time, isn’t there? So I bought some pork chops on a whim and thought I’d come up with something before they reach their use by date.  I looked at several recipes and took bits from many and put this dish together. It was not bad for a first try and very easy to prep as well as make.  

Also I was not sure how the cinnamon apples would turn out, but they complemented the pork pretty well. I used Gala red apples, because that’s what I had.

The cinnamon apples need finely powdered cinnamon else the cinnamon bits get in your way while eating the apples and they are not pleasant. You can find Cinnamon Powder in stores. If you have Cinnamon sticks and prefer to use that, you can break about ½ an inch of the cinnamon stick and pound with your pestle and mortar, once that’s done just sieve it so that the big bits are caught.

The pork was actually seared on the pan before being baked. Just wanted to get some colour on the meat and bring out some flavour.

Baked Pork Chops with Cinnamon Apples

4 Pork Chops (About 800 gms)
¼ tsp Rosemary
¼ tsp Oregano
4 Cloves garlic (minced)
½ tsp cracked pepper
2 tbsp + 1 tsp Olive Oil
2 large Potatoes (sliced)
1 medium sized Onion (sliced)
2 medium sized Apples (cored, peeled and sliced)
1 tsp Brown Sugar
Pinch of Powdered Cinnamon
Salt to taste

Mix the herbs, garlic, and salt and pepper together. Rub this dry mix onto the pork chops on either side. Set aside in the fridge for about and hour for the flavour to set; you can also keep in the fridge with the dry mix on until before the use by date.

Preheat oven to 180C.

In a pan pour 1 tbsp of olive oil and seer the pork chops for about 3 mins on each side. Take the pork chops off the pan and in the same sauté the onions till they caramelize a little.

In a baking dish, layer the bottom with sliced potatoes. Lay the pork chops over the potatoes. Then lay on some more potatoes and sprinkle the sautéed onions over. With one final drizzle of olive oil (about 1 tsp) they are set to go into the oven.

Cover the baking dish with foil and put in the oven for about 45 mins. Then remove the foil and bake for additional 15 mins.

During the last 15 mins of the bake time you can work on the apples.
In a pan pour 1 tbsp olive oil. Toss in the apples, brown sugar, a pinch of salt and a pinch of powdered cinnamon. You may need to add about 3 tablespoons of water to get the apples cooking. Cook until the apples are tender.

After serving on the plate I just garnished with some coriander leaves and it really boosted the flavour of the pork for me.

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