Pork chops with apples and onions and green beans

There are a lot of foods I like but only a handful of foods I love and tonight's meal has become one of those I love. I finished eating three hours prior to the time I am writing this entry and I am still thinking about tonight's dinner. I will absolutely be making it again and quite often. The meat part of the meal is a recipe from Anne Burrell of the Food Network and can be found on its original site here. The green bean part of the meal was from the Erin Chase, author of "$5 Dinner Mom," book and can be found here. 

Review: Let's start with the meat. The pork chops were savory and juicy. Probably the best pork chops I have ever had and if at all possible will be how I cook them from now on. Any cut would work but we had boneless, center cut pork chops for tonight's meal.

Now to the apple and onion topping. First of all the recipe calls for a pinch of crushed red pepper, a pinch of cinnamon and 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary but I just sprinkled them in without measuring and didn't use fresh rosemary but the dried kind you find in the spice aisle. It won't hurt. Also, to be honest, I messed up an ingredient and that made it VERY strong and tangy but had I used the proper ingredient it more than likely would have been fantastic. I accidentally got and used apple cider vinegar instead of just using regular apple cider. Don't get me wrong, it was quite good even with messing up but it would have been better had I not got the wrong thing; however, you could go without any liquid and just cook the onions and apples and it would still taste great. Also to note, if you can't find apple cider it could be out of season but regular apple juice is a good substitute.

Finally, there was the green beans. They were super easy and quick to make and honestly could be a meal in itself. In fact, most people would probably have all the ingredients needed already in their house they would just have to get the green beans. I bought fresh green beans, but I'm sure frozen would be OK too they would just need to be thawed before mixing with the ingredients and cooking. The taste of the roasted garlic really made the green beans fantastic. The recipe also calls for shredded parmesan cheese that you can toss on top of the green beans when finished but I didn't use that ingredient.

Recipe:

Pork chops with apples and onions

• 4 bone-in pork loin chops, 1-inch thick (again you can use whatever cut, boneless or bone-in that you want)
• Kosher salt
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 onions, thinly sliced
• 1 pinch crushed red pepper
• 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced
• Pinch cinnamon
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves finely chopped
• 2 cups apple cider

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Season the pork chops generously with salt then coat a large saute pan with olive oil and bring it to a high heat. Sear the pork on both sides and on the fat edge, working in batches if the chops don't all fit in the pan at the same time (I let each side cook for about five minutes). Be sure not to crowd the pan. Remove the pork from the pan and place on a cookie sheet. Finish the pork in the oven for about 10 to 12 minutes then remove them from the oven and let them rest for 10 minutes before serving (I didn't let them rest because I was hungry and wanted to eat. I also wanted them warm).

Ditch the excess fat from the saute pan. Give a drizzle of fresh olive oil and add the onions and crushed red pepper and season with salt. Cook until the onions become soft and aromatic. Add the apples, cinnamon and rosemary and toss to coat with the oil (I just used a fork to stir the ingredients). Add the cider and cook until the cider has reduced by two-thirds and the onion-apple mixture is very soft and saucy. Serve over the pork chops.

Oven roasted garlic green beans

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound of greens beans, washed and trimmed
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• Pepper
• 1-2 tablespoons of grated or shredded parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil (I actually just kept it at the 375 degrees that I used for the pork chops and cooked the chops and the green beans at the same time on two oven racks because they took about the same amount of time to cook). In a mixing bowl, add the olive oil, green beans, minced garlic, Kosher salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Spread the green beans out on the foiled lined baking sheet. Roast in the oven for 10-15 minutes (or until they are soft or hard to your liking), and toss quickly at around 6 minutes. Let them cook slightly before serving. These are served as a side dish with your favorite meat, chicken or pork chops meal.