Maple Sugar Glazed Pork With Baked Apples and Thyme

French Tart's Note:

A delicious and sticky combination of lean pork chops, maple syrup, brown sugar, apples and cider. An easy to assemble meal for company that needs very little last minute attention. Serve with mashed potato and steamed seasonal vegetables during the cooler months and lightly steamed greens during the warmer months. This dish would also be wonderful with baked red cabbage and crusty bread. Edited (30/08/07) to say: This was my RSC10 entry - and as everyone discovered, I copied and pasted the wrong version! I made it three times, cutting back on fluids each time and also increasing the oven temperature and the maple syrup! This recipe has now been edited to the correct version - thanks to all who made this, and sorry for my mistake! I hope you will try it again! FT:-)

• Total Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 4 (6 ounce) lean pork chops , trimmed, about 6 ozs each
• 1 ounce butter , for greasing
• 1 -2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 4 ounces brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1⁄3;-½ cup cider
• 1 red onion , peeled and diced finely
• 2 large apples , halved and cored
• salt
• pepper
• fresh thyme

Directions:

1. Put the chops & apple halves into a large buttered ovenproof dish – along side each other, it does not matter if they fit snugly.
2. Mix the maple syrup, sugar, mustard and cider together to make a thickish, sludgy syrupy, paste and spread over the top of the chops & apples.
3. Allow to rest/marinade at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 2250C/450F/Gas 6.
5. Sprinkle the chopped onion over the top of the chops and apples, and place several sprigs of fresh thyme on top.
6. Season well with freshly ground pepper and sea salt.
7. Bake for about 45 to 60 minutes, or until chops are and apples are cooked, soft and golden brown and glazed. (Cooking time depends on the thickness ans size of the chops).
8. You can flash the chops and apples under a grill to achieve a deeper and stickier glaze.
9. Serve each person with one chop, one-half of apple and some of the juices and the glaze. Garnish with some fresh thyme.

Reviews

[Zurie]

Reviewed for RSC #10. Chef, this is worth more than 2 stars but they don't allow 1/2 stars! When choosing this recipe, I went by the description: "a delicious and sticky combination" ... I loved the ease of preparation. My first doubt surfaced when whisking the marinade: the chef descibes it as "a thickish paste". I'd been extra careful to measure perfectly, but mine was just a normal thin marinade. In the end I also cut my apples into smaller sections (I used Granny Smiths). I could not quite follow the instruction of putting it "side by side" with the chops. Maybe I was just dense. This recipe was followed to the nth degree. But the marinade never became sticky, and refused to reduce. I served it with rice and two plain veggies. The dish tasted pleasant and I cannot fault the taste of the (thin) sauce. I wonder if the chef did not make an understandable error? A 1/2 pint of cider is 1 cup. Did you maybe mean 1/2 cup? Also, we were disappointed that the flavour of the maple syrup and even the mustard did not come through. I kept thinking that the creator of this recipes -- which could be great with a few alterations -- might have meant to use less cider. My photographs are not good: they were taken under electric lights, camera hand-held and not steady! Thank you, chef -- you could alter this recipe a little and have a winner. As it stands, we found it okay, quite nice, but judged it a little more severely than normally because it's a contest, and we felt the promise made in the intro was not fulfilled. It could still be tweaked after the contest and turned into the winner it could have been! Thanks, and good luck!

[MarthaStewartWanabe]

This is a different, tasty way to prepare pork chops. The sweet and savory flavors of this dish compliment one another well. The pork chops turned out juicy and flavorful with a sweet, sticky glaze. We enjoyed eating each bite of pork with a bit of roasted apple as well. We did think the glaze was a bit too sweet for our preference, but overall the dish was beautiful and delicious. Thank you for sharing! (Made for Aus/NZ Recipe Swap #30)

[SweetSueAl]

I decided to try something totally different for my style of cooking. I usually bread and fry my pork chops. The only change that I made was to reduce the apple cider to 1/4 cup. My sauce was nice and sticky. I also ensured my chops and apples were thoroughly coated with the sauce. The only issue I had was my apple skins baked really dark. But they also slipped right off and the apple underneath was delicious. I served these with mashed sweet potatoes, which was a wonderful accompaniment to the dish. Thanks for posting, FT...you've expanded my pallate a little. Sue