Thyme (or not) Sauteed Pork Chops with Apple Slices

I am not a big pork lover.  Never have been.  I would rather have beef ribs over baby backs, and forget pork chops!!  Or so I thought. 

Last weekend I did all of my shopping for the coming week. I didn't plan out my menus in advance, but sort of decided in my head on the way to the grocery store which meats I would need and the veggies to go with them. Pork was not part of the plan.  It was pure Texas beef dancing in my brain.

When I shop, the only food that is not fresh, is frozen.  I get coffee, ice cream, some frozen veggies, yogurt, butter, eggs, cereal, pasta, bread, fresh veggies and fruit, meat and cheese.  I tend to stock up every other month on things like sugar, flour, and other baking goods and spices.  I rarely buy processed foods.

Where was I with pork? Oh yes.  We are not big pork fans, but at the beginning of the summer we made some slow cooked Baby Back ribs and they were to die for. Best ribs evah!  So when I passed the pork chops in the meat section, I decided to give them a try as well.

I got out my Martha Stewart cookbook that Pam had given me back in 1997 after a fun visit to our home with her two girls.  I found a recipe called Thyme-Sauteed Pork Chops With Apple Slices and set to work. It was a very simple recipe:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Coarse kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
8 thin pork loin chops
4 Tbs unsalted butter
4 Tbs olive oil
16 springs of fresh thyme
2 Granny Smith apples or McIntosh apples, unpeeled, cut in 1/4 inch slices

Okay, so I did not use the thyme.  Didn't have it, so turned a blind eye to it.  It's how I roll.

Season the flour with the salt and pepper to taste, then lightly dredge the chops in the flour.  Heat the butter and oil in a large skillet. Saute the chose for 5 minutes on each side.  When they are done, use the same skillet to saute the apple slices 2-4 minutes or until soft but not mushy.

If you have thyme, you place the sprigs under each chop while it is cooking so the springs will stick to the meat.  But I didn't have thyme. So there.

I served this with glazed carrots and peas with an Herb Garden spring salad and Fall Creek Vineyards Chenin Blanc.

It was soooo yummy. 

Oh, and so was this:

Kids ate it up.  My two oldest sons have very distinct dislikes  One hates peas.  The other hates carrots. Easy fix since I was serving both.  I swithced their plates though before they sat down and they were both "Really mom?????"

I have to say, that as simple as that recipe may sound, it has changed my feeling for pork chops. I think it was the half stick of real butter.  In addition to the butter in the carrots, my arteries clogged just watching it all cook.

Next time, I will share our secret for perfect baby back ribs!