February 18th, 2019

 I follow Lidia Bastianich on Facebook and her February 3rd post she had a recipe for Oven-Braised Pork Chops with Apples, Onions and Dried Cherries. For me, apples with pork is a classic, but adding dried cherries upped the game for today’s leaner pork.

Although the recipe called for center cut bone-in pork chops, Whole Foods only had boneless ($8.99/lb.), but they were nice and thick. The recipe also called for Golden Delicious varietal apple. There was also a small amount of white wine, honey, garlic and fresh sage needed for this recipe. Luckily, I was able to get a few sage leaves off my sage plant. I have my sage plant in a plant bed that gets southern exposure and is up against my fireplace, so it’s pretty well protected. All the vegetable and fruit components of this recipe I picked up at Delicious Orchards in Colts Neck, NJ.
 
The dried cherries are rehydrated in the wine for 10 minutes. While that was going on, I began to prep the vegetables and apples so they were ready when needed. The pork chops are browned on each side for two minutes. Once that is complete, you add the garlic to brown, followed by adding the apples and onions around the pork. The sage leaves are thrown on top of the dish along with a bit of salt. Once the cherries are rehydrated, you add some white wine vinegar and honey to the bowl. The pork and all these ingredients simmered for approximately 20 minutes. 
 
The pork chops were scrumptious! The flavor profile of this dish gave you a hint of sweetness, some tang from the wine and vinegar and a hint of sage. The pork was tender and moist. So, if you want to add some pizzazz to today’s leaner cut of pork, give Lidia’s recipe a try.