Pork Chops with Rosemary, Red Onions and Baguette Croutons

This recipe was inspired by a recipe in Alison Roman’s cookbook “Dining In”. She roasts a chicken and then when it’s resting, she tosses some torn up pieces of bread into the rendered chicken fat and toasts them in the juices and chicken fat. It’s amazing. In this recipe I tossed some pieces of semi-stale baguette that I had into the pork fat and juices that had been sizzling with some red onion, lemon, garlic and rosemary and the result is just as tasty. They’re zingy from the lemon, crunchy, but a bit juicy like all good croutons are, and have a salty shell of yum around them. And that’s just the croutons, the pork is delicious as well.

Recipe by Tierney Larson

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

4 bone in pork chops

kosher salt

ground white pepper (or black if you don’t have it)

1 tbl canola oil

1 red onion halved, trimmed and sliced into 1/2 inch thick half moon slices

3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed

1 sprig of rosemary

1 lemon quartered, and visible seeds removed

1/2 of a baguette, torn into bite sized pieces

some olive oil for drizzling

Ok so…Preheat the oven to 375F with one rack in the middle and one towards the top (you’re going to want to broil the bread pieces at the end). Your pork chops will get a better sear if they’re at room temp, so plan accordingly. Make 2 or 3 slits through the fat and silver skin of the pork chop stopping when you hit the meat, this will prevent them from curling up in the pan. Season them on all sides with kosher salt and white or black pepper. Heat a heavy bottomed skillet, or preferably cast iron skillet over medium high heat, when the pan is starting to get small wisps of smoke, add the canola oil and let that get hot. When the oil is shimmering and almost smoking add the pork chops. Let them sear for 4-5 minutes until they get a nice golden crust. Then flip them on their sides using tongs to help some of the fat on the sides of the chop render. Flip them to the non seared side and scatter the onions, garlic, lemon and rosemary around them. Give the onions and everything a little toss so they get coated in the fat, sprinkle with kosher salt and place in the oven.

Cook the chops for a further 3-4 minutes or so, checking to get a temp of 145F for a little pink and above. Around 150F is nice and still juicy too. Remove immediately from the pan and let rest on a cutting board that has a mote to catch any juices. Give the onions and everything a stir in the pan and then add the torn up pieces of bread. Stir them around to get coated in the juices and fat, drizzle a little olive oil if they need a little more and sprinkle with kosher salt. Put your oven on broil and let them get nice and golden and toasty for about 2-3 minutes.

Serve the pork chops alongside the onions, croutons and garlic. You can squeeze a little lemon on the pork chops as well. Enjoy!