Flo’s Homely Dinner for Four

Rosemary Roasted Pork Chops in a Piquant Sauce

with Roast potatoes

followed by a Plum Pistachio crumble

This meal is simple, rustic, but rather yummy I think. The slightly spicy piquant sauce is nicely warming in these cold Autumn months. I like to add a little cup of the red wine I’m drinking to the sauce, but that's not essential.

The chops recipe is adapted from Gordon Ramsay whose video (here) has some good tips on deseeding chillies. The roast potato recipe is from Nigella who also uses polenta but I often don’t have it to hand, it is that extra bit crunch if you do have it though. The crumble is a Nigel Slater recipe with the substitution of pistachio for almond.

I have colour coded my recipe once again because I find it easier to follow that way. Hope it helps any of you who want to try it out.  

Ingredients

Potatoes

I kg King Edward or Maris Piper potatoes

8 tbsp goose fat

Pork

4 pork chops

3 tbsp olive oil

6 garlic cloves

6 large sprigs of rosemary

Salt

Pepper

Yellow cherry tomatoes sliced in half(or red if you can’t get them)

Sauce (I often make double this because it can go into another meal the next day - pasta sauce, ratatouille, on toast with a poached egg, with meat etc...)

3 tbsp olive oil

1 medium sized chilli (deseeded and minced)

1 large red onion (peeled and super finely chopped)

I red bell pepper (peeled and super finely chopped)

1 can of chopped tomatoes

1 tbsp of sugar

salt and pepper
optional cup of red wine

Crumble

650g plums
3 tbsp caster sugar
a large knob of butter

150g plain flour
90g butter
50g ground pistachio
70g demerara sugar
75g rolled oats

Crème fraiche, cream or ice cream to serve

The Potatoes

1. Preheat the oven to 200c.

2. Peel the potatoes, and cut each into 3 by cutting off each end at a slant so that you are left with a wedge or triangle in the middle.

3. Place the potatoes into salted cold water in a saucepan, and bring them to a boil. Boil the potatoes for 4 minutes. Drain the excess water from the potatoes using a colander and then tip the potatoes back into the empty saucepan. 

4. Hold a lid firmly on top of the pan and shake the potatoes around to coat them well and so that their edges disintegrate or fuzz and blur a little: this facilitates the crunch effect later.

5. Place the goose fat into a large roasting tin and heat in the oven until very hot. Then carefully place the semolina-coated potatoes into the hot fat and roast the potatoes in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour or until they are darkly golden and crisp, turning them over halfway through cooking. If the oven is hot enough they probably will not need more than about 25 minutes a side; and it's better to let them sit in the oven (you can always pour off most of the fat and leave them in the tin) until the very last minute.

The Crumble Preparation

1. Make the pistachio crumble by rubbing the butter into the flour till it resembles fresh breadcrumbs. Stir in the pistachio, the demerara sugar and the oats.

2. Stone your plums and pile into a buttered baking dish and add the sugar, butter and a few tablespoons of water.

3. Tip the oat-and-pistachio topping on to the plums – your crumble is now ready to put in the oven when you have taken out your pork.

I was not in my house and could only find these 3 dishes - it works better in 1 big deep dish

The Pork

1. Prepare all your ingredients (all the chopping etc)

2. Score through the fat of the pork.

3. Rub a baking tray with oil, salt, pepper, the peeled garlic cloves and the rosemary.

4. Put the pork in, rub around and turn over.

5. Add the tomatoes, skin side down.

6. Put in the preheated oven and set a timer for 10 mins.

The sauce

1. Pour the olive oil into the pan, heat up and add the chillies. Put in salt and pepper.

2. Stir for a minute then add the onions and pepper. Then a tablespoon of sugar.

3. Allow to soften then add the tomatoes (and wine if using) and reduce for 5 minutes.

Back to the Pork

1. Once the timer goes off, check the pork to see if it is cooked. Depending on thickness it may need 5 to 10 minutes more.

2. Once done, pour the juices into the sauce and allow the meat to rest for 4 minutes.

Back to sauce

In these last 4 minutes, reduce the sauce back to a good consistency after the newly added juices. How long it needs varies depending on how much juice the chops have given.

To Serve

Gordon serves a dollop of Sauce on the plate, then places the chop on top, then neatly puts another spoon of sauce on top of the meat. Then drizzle with olive oil and neatly place the yellow tomatoes around it. Serve the potatoes in a side dish.

the perfect crunch

The Crumble

Put the crumble in the oven (still at 200c) and time 35 minutes so it should be done by the time you are finished. Serve with crème fraiche, cream, or ice cream. (Forgot to take pictures of finished product!)

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