Pork Chops with Toasted Spice Rub and Apple Dressing

Recipe courtesy Michael Chiarello

Show: Easy Entertaining with Michael ChiarelloEpisode: Pick your own Dinner

Rated: 5 stars out of 5Rate itRead users' reviews (23)

RECIPE
COMMENTS & REVIEWS(23)

Cook Time:
40 min
Level:
Intermediate
Yield:
4 servings

Times:

Prep: 15 min
Inactive Prep: --
Cook: 40 min
Total:: 55 min

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Ingredients

4 (12-ounce) center-cut pork chops
Gray salt
2 tablespoons Toasted Spice Rub, recipe follows
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup Honey Roasted Apple Sauce, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Season both sides of the pork chops with salt and toasted spice rub.

Heat the oil in an ovenproof skillet over medium heat and sear the pork chops until golden brown, about 4 minutes on 1side and 1 minute on the other side. Place pork chops on baking sheet. Remove excess oil from skillet.

Bake the chops until just cooked through, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove to a serving platter.

Over medium heat, add the wine to the skillet, stir, and reduce to 1 to 2 tablespoons; add the apple sauce and bring to a simmer. Spoon over each chop.

Toasted Spice Rub

1/4 cup fennel seeds

1 tablespoon coriander seeds

1 tablespoon peppercorns

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1/4 cup pure California chili powder

2 tablespoons kosher salt

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Toast the fennel seeds, coriander seeds, and peppercorns in a small, heavy pan over medium heat. When the fennel begins to turn light brown, add the red pepper flakes, and toss several times. Immediately turn the spice mixture out onto a plate to cool.

Put in a blender with the chili powder, salt, and cinnamon and blend until the spices are evenly ground. If you have a small spice mill or a coffee grinder dedicated to grinding spices, grind only the fennel, coriander, pepper, and chili flakes. Pour into a bowl and toss with the remaining ingredients.

Keep the spice mix in a glass jar in a cool, dry place, or freeze.

Note: If you have an exhaust fan over your stove, turn it on before you start toasting the spices. Be careful not to inhale the fumes once you add the red pepper flakes.

Yield: 1 cup

Honey Roasted Apple Sauce:

12 apples, Gravenstein or McIntosh

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon finely ground sea salt, preferably gray salt

1/3 cup honey

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Peel the apples with a vegetable peeler, remove the core and cut into 1-inch chunks, place in a large bowl. Heat a large skillet or roasting pan over medium-high heat. Add the butter. When the butter begins to brown, add lemon juice, then add the apples and salt. Cook until the apples just begin to color, about 4 minutes. Stir in the honey. Roast the apples in the oven until soft and lightly caramelized, about 12 minutes. Fork mash for a chunky version or puree in food processor for a smoother sauce.

Serve warm, room temperature or cold.

Yield: 8 servings

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Comments & Reviews

recipe Pork Chops with Toasted Spice Rub and Apple Dressing
Sue Shaker Heights, OH 11-06-2009
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Great Rub
Rated: 4 stars out of 5

The spice rub was delicious. I put it on first thing in the morning which enhanced the flavor that much more. I used thick... center-cut chops, but next time will use thinner chops, to help keep them as tender as possible. The apple sauce came was also very good. I kept the apples in the over longer than 12 minutes, which wasn't necessary for chunky sauce. Read more
recipe Pork Chops with Toasted Spice Rub and Apple Dressing
Annie Milpitas, CA 10-28-2009
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Especially the Apple Sauce
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

Quick info...Was having unexpected crowd for dinner. Made the apple sauce by mixuing a jar of retail apple sauce with the... prepared fresh apples. Both the chops and apple sauce...cooked on the stove top...Great!. Read more
recipe Pork Chops with Toasted Spice Rub and Apple Dressing
Barbara Smallwood, NY 09-19-2009
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One of the Best Pork Chop Recipes
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

The flavors were exceptional and just making the rub and the apple sauce filled the house with scrumptious Fall aromas. One... thing we changed that I believe is an improvement - instead of removing the chops to a baking pan to finish them at 350 degrees, we kept them in the same oven-proof frying pan and after cooking them the first 4 minutes on the stove top, we turned them and placed them in a 450 degree oven for 5 minutes. This is a Bobby Flay technique that never fails to produce the tenderest chops and steaks. Yum! I am having the applesauce for breakfast. Thanks Michael and Bobby!Read more
recipe Pork Chops with Toasted Spice Rub and Apple Dressing
Carol San Antonio, TX 07-11-2009
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THIS IS A KEEPER!!!
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

Definitely will make again. My husband loved it, got up for seconds but didn't get more cause he wanted to live room for... dessert. The Spice Rub was some work at fisrt but will be making some more to put in my pantry for other recipes. Great flavor on the chops and apples were awesome. Read more
recipe Pork Chops with Toasted Spice Rub and Apple Dressing
r. l. danville, CA 03-17-2009
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A BIG disappointmet
Rated: 1 stars out of 5

We tried this recipe tonight and were quite disappointed. I followed the recipe exactly as presented and would not use it... again. The only exception was cooking the meat twice as long as recommended to get the internal temperature to medium for pork. The recipes were easy to prepare, but, the flavor was just average or even below average. The spice recipe sounded more interesting than it tasted. The spice rub created a flavor only on the top of the pork chops and it was only so so. We expected more from a professional chef's recipes. The bigger disappointment was the honey roasted apples. Again, we expected a more robust flavor that would enhance the flavor of the meat. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised since the recipe is pretty much just apples and honey. The wine did add a little more flavor but not enough to spend the time making it. The web is full of other recipes and would recommend to try any other.Read more
recipe Pork Chops with Toasted Spice Rub and Apple Dressing
BETH ybor city, FL 11-01-2007
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tastey!
Rated: 4 stars out of 5

This rub was really yummy. I tried to grind the spices in a food processor and that didn't work, but the blender did.