"...and here's one I prepared earlier"

First I would like to apologies to my loyal (4) followers as I have been pretty slack on the postings recently. In truth, I have been pretty busy travelling the length and breadth of the country sorting out IT shit during the week and trying to be a attentive father and fiancee at weekends, so this has impacted on my ability, or indeed desire, to sit down and write.

This is not to say that the blog has ever been far from my mind. I have still been busy in the kitchen, not to mention eating out, and have a few things to tell you about. Just to whet your appetite here are some of the things I have to write about in the near future:

• Braised Oxtail with Tomato
• Ravioli
• Our Wedding Menu
• Confit of Duck with Gratin Dauphinoise
• Beef Wellington

Anyway, onto todays entry. It's a bit of cop out really as this is a recipe I posted online about 3 years ago, but I'm not one to duplicate effort so I thought this would ease me back into the blogosphere nicely, it's pork chops with cider and apple gravy.

Pork for a long time was my favourite meat. I used to love it when I'd go to my Nans for Sunday lunch as she did the BEST crackling! I don't eat pork very often now, but if I do find myself with pork chops to cook, then this is one of the ways I like to cook them. Another is to simply grill them and serve with a coleslaw made with only grated raw celeriac, lemon juice any mayonnaise, yum!

This recipe calls for cider to make the gravy with which gives with it the chefs' privilege of a glass of cider whilst cooking ;-) I recommend Westons Vintage Special Reserve which is medium dry and has a hell of kick to it! But it is a very nice cider.

When it comes to cooking pork chops, most people tend to treat pork with the same fear as chicken, and cook it to death. Pork chops have a layer of fat on the outside, but the meat itself is very lean, and if you over cook it it will be dry. You can't eat pork chops rare, but it wants to be 'just cooked' in the middle to be enjoyed at their best.

Here's the recipe which serves 2 generously. I serve this with celeriac & potato whole grain mustard mash and whatever steamed veg you fancy.

• 2 pork loin chops, about 1.5cm thick
• 1 large red onion roughly chopped
• 1 large eating apple (russet are very good with this) cored, peeled and sliced
• A knob of butter
• 3-4 sage leaves chopped
• 150ml good apple cider
• 200ml chicken or veg stock

Heat a large pan over a moderate to high heat. Rub the chops with olive oil and season with salt and pepper and add to the pan. After one minute turn the chops over then throw in the apples and onion. Turn down the heat and add a knob of butter. Keep turning the chops every minute or so until done, about 8-10 minutes. Keep the apples and onions moving so they don't stick, but don't mess with them too much as you want to get some caramelisation. Remove the chops from the pan and keep warm. Turn the heat right up and pour in the cider which should boil immediately. Reduce the cider by half stirring occasionally to scrape the goodness from the bottom of the pan. Add the chopped sage and the chicken stock and reduce this by half too.

Plate up the chops and using tongs or a slotted spoon share the oinions and apple between two plates, placing this on top of the chops. Add the mash and veg to the plate and pour the gravy over the chops and mash.

In hindsight, since making this again recently and taking the photos I think that the presentation would have been better with the chops on top of the apples and onions. But it still tastes the same eh?!

Enjoy ;-)