Sage-Rubbed Pork Chops with Warm Apple Slaw

This one is for everyone who says I only cook chicken!

I promise we don’t only eat chicken. It just happens to be that when we have steak or fish (that rare occurrence, here in Oklahoma), it’s seasoned and grilled and doesn’t require much of a recipe.

But what about the other white meat? Well, to be honest, I’m a little scared of pork. I’ve had a lot of really bad, tough, shoe leather-like pork. And though I actually have cooked it successfully before, I’m still a little wary.

I saw this recipe in one of my cookbooks months and months ago, before Jess Fuel even existed. It looked really good, but I didn’t want to chance failing on the pork front. So I forgot about it. Until recently when I was perusing the book for some new ideas. It called out to me again, and this time, I decided to answer.

At the last minute, Nick decided to invite some friends over for dinner. Now the pressure was REALLY on!

Sage Rubbed Pork Chops with Warm Apple Slaw

(from The Food You Crave by Ellie Kreiger)

for the chops:

• 1 tsp dried sage
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 4 3/4-inch-thick bone-in pork loin chops
• 2 tsp olive oil

for the slaw:

• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, cut in half and sliced into half-moons
• 1 large Granny Smith apple, cored and shredded
• 1/2 tsp dried sage
• 1/2 head green cabbage, cored and coarsely shredded
• 3 large carrots, coarsely shredded
• 2 tbsp cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth

Combine sage, salt, pepper and garlic in a small bowl and combine.

Rub mixture all over both sides of pork chops. Let them sit at room temperature for 10 minutes.

Heat oil in a large nonstick saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the chops and brown on both sides, about 1-2 minutes per side. Remove chops from pan.

In the same pan, heat remaining oil over medium heat. Add onion, apple and sage. Cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes.

Add the cabbage, carrots, vinegar and salt. Continue cooking until cabbage begins to soften, about 5 minutes.

Add the broth and return the pork chops to the pan.

Cover and cook until the pork chops are just done, about 5 minutes.

I served my chops with cranberry corn muffins (Jiffy mix + dried cranberries). All the fall flavors went together really well! I actually wanted to make cornbread stuffing… but ended up being too lazy.

So how was the pork? Well, definitely not as perfectly browned as the picture in the cookbook… but not overcooked either! Hooray! Everyone enjoyed the meal, including Kaiser, who got the grissly scraps. I especially loved the slaw!

Perhaps there is more pork in my future!