Today is the 90th anniversary of Estonian Republic, and I had planned to cook something special and Estonian to mark that special occasion. However, we're still a bit exhausted from all the travelling, and hence I decided to cook a very simple recipe from my most recent cookbook acquisition, Nigella Express. I got the book as a gift from a very special friend of mine, Roxy, who occasionally comments here on my blog, and I'm thrilled to bits, as I love my other three Nigella cookbooks (How to Be a Domestic Goddess, How to Eat, Feast). And the first recipe that caught my eye was Mustard Pork Chops (p. 11) - a French bistro classic, apparently. Here's a very slighty adapted version (Nigella used ready-made garlic oil) of an excellent, effortless, flavoursome and quick supper dish. K. was especially fond of the creamy cider-mustard sauce, so we'll probably have this one again soon.
We used Maille's A l'Ancienne mustard and the award-winning Ecusson Grand Cidre Pur Jus Doux cider.
Nigella Lawson's Cider and Mustard Pork Chops
(Sealihakotletid sinepi-siidrikastmes)
Serves 2
2 pork chops, approximately 450 g in total
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled and bruised
125 ml cider
1 Tbsp grainy mustard
75 ml double cream
salt
Bash the pork chops 'briefly but brutally' (Nigella's words) with a rolling pin between two sheets of clingfilm to flatten them.
Heat the oil in a heavy-based frying pan, add the bruised garlic clove and fry gently for 1-2 minutes to infuse the oil with garlic. Remove the garlic clove and discard.
Add the pork chops and cook them over a moderately high heat for about 5-6 minutes on each side, until golden brown. Try not to move the pork chops during frying, as this way you'll get a nice even crust. Season with salt, if you wish. Remove to a warmed plate, cover with foil to keep warm.
Pour the cider into the pan, still over the moderately high heat, to de-glaze the pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
Add the mustard, stir, then add the cream and cook for a few minutes.
Place the pork chops on plates and spoon the cider and mustard sauce over.
Nigella served her mustard pork chops with potato gnocchi, we had a simple side salad.
***** I'm submitting this to this month's Weekend Cookbook Challenge # 25 Nigella Lawson and hosted by Ani at FoodieChickie *****
17 comments:
I tried to watch Nigella Express but found the show horribly annoying. The pork chops go some of the way to redeeming that, though. :) Hope you enjoyed your skiing!
This looks super delish. I love the combination of cider and mustard! Nigella is great.
i remeber seeing her cooking this on the show. never tried it though. have made the express fudgeand that was delicious :)
glad you survived the slopes!
My dad would go crazy over this, Pille!
Happy belated 90th anniversary wishes to Estonia! The pork chops look very delicious!
This sauce goes well with turkey cutlets, too.
Glad to see you back Pille! :) Those chops sound delish...I like Nigella too :)
those chops are definitely calling out my name. I've got a couple of really good pork chops in the freezer right now and i think I might try this. I have had much success with Nigella's sage chicken...so I'm all over this.
this looks very nice. I have never tried cider and mustard together but I can imagine that it is great together.
Welcome back! While you were away I made the delicious Kaiserschmarrn pancakes - thanks for pointing us to that recipe!
I have this book and this was the first dish I made too! It's gorgeous, isn't it?
Glad you're back in one piece. :)
Very nice! Thank you so much for taking part in WCC this month.
Annemarie – thanks, the skiing was a lot of fun, if tiring and bruising :)
Meeta – I hadn’t combined cider and mustard before, but it was such a flavoursome and effortless match, that I’ll certainly be making it again!
Andreea – I’ll look up that fudge recipe soon!
Lobstersquad – I’m glad too, especially as there were moments I wasn’t so sure about that :)
Patricia – hope you’ll make this for your dad then!?
Cinnamonda – kiitos!
Lydia – that’s good to know (though turkey in general, not mentioning turkey cutlets, are very hard to find here.)
Joey – Nigella is very likeable I guess :)
Veron – I’ve had success with all Nigella recipes so far (with the exception of pistachio macarons, perhaps), so I’m over all her recipes :)
Shayne – do give this flavour pairing a go- it was very, very nice!
Rosa – we tried Kaiserschmarrn in Austria, too, but homemade ones were much nicer!
Wendy – what a coincidence :) And yes, it was a gorgeous recipe. (PS Seeing all those people in crutches in the skiing resort and in the airport, I’m surprised I survived in one piece!)
Sara – thank you for hosting WCC!!
Hey - glad to hear you're back and as unscathed as I was after our Christmas trip - also only my second. Truth be told, I got back and started trying to plot how we coudl go skiing AGAIN before the end of this season... but in the end the budgetary constraint of an expensive trip to South Africa last month proved to be too much :( Ah well, next winter.
And is it me or does there seem to be a run on prok chop recipes at the moment? So many of my favourite blogs seem to have featured one recently - mine included ;-)
hello there!!
Just for information, if you want to taste a really really really really and.....hum.... oh yeah, really good mustard, go on straightfromfrance.com
it's from France, obviously, it's cheap and you have everything you want. A lot of gourmet food and deliver right to your door!!
bye bye
keep cooking!!
Tere! As an Estonian-American, I just want to say that I absolutely love and appreciate your blog. On breaks at work I flip through the archives and drool. Suffice to say, your cider mustard chops proudly made history last night as my first recipe attempt! The result was fantastic! Now I'm REALLY hooked. Aitäh!
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