Pork chops with apple champ

So this evening it was an oven roasted pork chops with apple colcannon.

For the pork chops …I marinated them for an hour or so in olive oil, rosemary, thyme and oregano with a sprinkle of sea salt and black pepper.  These were pan fried to brown on a high heat and then in a 180* oven to finish cooking through for 30 minutes.  It's always difficult, I think, with pork chops to get the balance right between having them cooked though without going dry and having a lovely crisp crackling-like skin.  It's not so bad with a large roasting joint as it takes long enough for the meat to cook through to get the crackling nice and crisp.

It's even worse in this house with lamb chops as we eat them so rare one can still hear the occasional 'baa'!  The trick is in the initial pan fry.  I get the pan good and hot and use only the oil that sticks to the chop from the marinade.  In the pan on one side for a minute to brown the flesh then held upright on the fatty side (using tongs of course!) for another minute to get the fat good and hot.  Back for another minute on the uncooked side and then into the oven.  Works every time!

For the mash...standard creamy mash with plenty of sea salt and white pepper.  Into this was stirred some sweetheart cabbage which had been finely sliced and sautéed in a little seasoned butter.  Finely chopped apple was added just as the cabbage started to soften so both were still the crisp side of al dente.  It worked so well with the pork.

The sauce was a variation of the recently blogged Samuel Pepys recipe with an extra bit of butter and more honey and mustard added.  I reduced the amount of cider vinegar as I didn't was to overpower the apple in the mash.