Normandy Pork chops with an apple-flavored cream sauce
4 pork chops or pork cutlets
2/3 C apple cider (beverage)
1 C pure cream (heavy cream)
1 or 2 teaspoons calvados (optional)
4 apples (golden delicious or similar) Peeled, cored and finely sliced
2 TBLS butter (to cook the chops)
1 teaspoon grapeseed or sunflower oil ( to cook the chops)
2 TBLS butter to (cook the apples)
salt and pepper to season.
Prepare and measure all of the ingredients and season the pork chops with a few pinches of salt. Peel, core, and slice the apples and place the slices in a bowl of water mixed with a squeeze of lemon juice. Preheat your oven to 70 °C / 158 °F.
Start by heating the butter and oil in a frypan or skillet on medium heat. When the butter starts foaming, place the pork chops in the pan and leave to cook on moderate heat for around 5 minutes on each side. Then cook for a further 5 minutes on the first side after that. This ensures the chops are cooked properly and creates lots of caramelized meat juices on the bottom of the pan.
While the chops cook, it’s a good time to make the apple garnish. Rinse and pat dry the apple slices before adding them to a hot pan (on medium-high heat) with the butter. Season with salt and pepper and cook for about 10 minutes tossing them from time to time until they are a golden-brown color. When done, set the apple garnish aside until the chops are ready to be served.
Once the chops are cooked, place them in a tray covered with foil and keep them warm in the preheated oven while you make the sauce.
To make the sauce, remove the excess of fat from the pan, then raise the heat to high and pour in the cider. Using a wooden spoon or spatula gently scrape the caramelized juices sitting at the bottom of the pan so that they blend with the cider to create the sauce base (this is called deglazing). Leave to reduce for 1 or 2 minutes, add the cream, and reduce again for a few minutes until the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and adjust the seasoning of the sauce with salt and pepper to your taste. You can now add some calvados to the sauce to give it more character but this is optional.
Take the pork chops out of the oven and pour all the meat juices left in the tray into the pan. Then place the chops in the pan and let them warm gently in the sauce for a few minutes turning them over at least once.
To finish the dish, serve the chops with the apples placed on top and pour the warm sauce over. I highly recommend enjoying this regional dish with a glass of cider.