Pork chops in a Creamy Mushroom Cider Sauce

I often like to cook pork chops in cider and have various recipes I use.  I like the way cooking pork in cider really enhances the flavour and renders the meat so deliciously tender.

I was thinking about all this today and, as always, turned to the Internet for inspiration, which is exactly what I got.

A blog I had never visited before jumped off the page at me, Called "Girl Interrupted Eating", the quirky title was exactly my cup of tea, and when I read that Becky was a 30 something year old from Nottingham in the UK I knew I had found my source.

I like Nottingham.  It's famous for being where my brother lives, but it's probably more famous for the infamous....  the infamous Robin Hood, who allegedly stole from the rich to give to the poor.  Well, on this occasion, Becky, I guess I'm sort of keeping up the tradition as I unashamedly studied your recipe for "Pork Chops with Cider and Rosemary" in order to steal the ideas.....  erm, I'm not exactly sure where the giving to the poor comes in but give me time!!!

Becky's recipe sounded delicious to me,and, apparently, lucky Beccy discovered this wonderful dish when her boyfriend cooked it for her.Having got my inspiration, I rebuilt the recipe with my own variations.  In fact, I changed very little but I completely changed the taste with the addition of mushrooms and cream.

 

Here is my recipe:

 

INGREDIENTS

Two Pork Chops
2 tbps of olive oil
1 knob of butter
2 tbsp of rosemary finely chopped
1 medium onion finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 handful of roughly chopped mushrooms
1/2 a bottle of cider
200ml single cream

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180C

Sprinkle the pork chops on both sides with salt and pepper

Fry the pork chops in butter and olive oil. Use an oven proof lidded saucepan.

Once browned, remove the pork chops and set aside

Add the onions , garlic and rosemary into the pan and fry till onion is soft and translucent.

Add the mushrooms and cook a further minute or two.

Pour the cider in to the pan and bring to a simmer before returning the pork chops to the pan

Remove from heat, cover and place in the preheated oven for 120minutes. Then, remove lid and leave in oven a further 15 minutes

Remove the pork chops and whisk in the cream, thickening a little if needed.

 

To serve, place the pork chops on plates and pour the sauce over .

Serve with mustard mashed potato and cabbage dressed with nutmeg, and the remains of the bottle of cider.

 

Now for those readers thinking that I might have made a heck of a lot of potato and cabbage to accompany this simple dish, I have one word to say...  Well, I could probably come up with one word but the real reason probably needs three....

 

Bubble and Squeak....     which will be supper tomorrow.