David Rubel's

What's For Dinner?

3/16/05

Sear-Roasted Pork Chops

(serves two parents and two children)

This method of searing meat first and finishing it off later in a very hot oven is the basic technique used in making steak au poivre. However, for it to work with pork, you need both thick chops and some moist, compatible vegetables to add flavor and prevent the chops from drying out.

• 2 large pork chops, about 1 1/2 inches thick
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 head green cabbage, cored
• 1 medium fennel bulb, trimmed
• 2 Granny Smith apples
• olive oil

1. Preheat your over to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Rinse and pat dry the pork chops, then coat them with a little salt and pepper.

3. Thickly shred the cabbage. Thickly slice the fennel bulb. Peel and core the apples, then cut them into eighths.

4. Place a large cast-iron skillet over a high flame and until it just begins to smoke. Add a thin film of olive oil. Then add the pork chops. Sear 3 minutes, then turn. Spread the cabbage, fennel, and apple slices around the pork chops. Place the skillet in the preheated oven.

5. Roast until the pork chops are cooked through, about 15 minutes. Let the chops rest for a couple of minutes before serving them on a bed of buttered egg noodles mixed with poppy seeds.

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Tips

*Trimming a fennel bulb means cutting off both the hard root end and the green top.

* Soaking the cut apples in water will retard browning.

* I add the apples first so that they're touching the bottom of the skillet. This promotes caramelization.

* Meat firms up as it cooks. With practice, you can tell when a piece of meat is done simply by touch. This is advantageous because cutting into meat before it has rested releases juices that would otherwise be reabsorbed during resting. If you cut into meat to test it, you lose these juices, diminishing the flavor of the meat as well as drying it out.

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