Pork chops with cream and lemon sauce

This is the result of my attempt to re-create a dinner that I never got to eat.

It takes a lot to distract me from my food, especially if I’ve ordered it in a super-fancy restaurant. We were in New York on serious business  – Jon was interviewing for a job and I was shopping.

Now I remember ordering pork and lemon, and I think there was something creamy on the plate when it arrived, and I know that I had a side of spinach with nutmeg though I don’t remember actually eating it. It was Jon’s fault. He had decided that after 7 years of dating it was probably not a terrible idea for us to get married and being thus decided, couldn’t wait until after dinner to run it by me. Of course I was so busy smiling that I somehow didn’t manage to eat, and I didn’t know about packaging up food to go back then, so that dinner was lost to history.

Ingredients

1 boneless pork chop per person

1 lemon – juiced

½ cup of cream

Knob of butter and a splash of olive oil

Salt and pepper

• If the pork chops are thicker than a knuckle – about half an inch, put them in a zip lock bag and smash them with a pan / rolling pin / hammer until about 1 cm thick.
• Season with salt and pepper
• Heat up the frying pan and add a splash of olive oil and a knob of butter (a scant tbsp and a generous tsp respectively) The butter gives great flavor, the oil stops the butter burning
• Cook for five minutes per side
• Move the meat to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm
• Pour the lemon juice into the pan and scrape off the bits into the bubbling liquid. Add the cream, allow it to bubble into a sauce, then take the pan off the heat
• Pour the sauce over the pork and serve

Do you want to make it fancier?

• Add a ½ cup of pernod in with the lemon juice for a herbal hit
• Finish the dish with a handful of chopped parsley
• Dice a shallot and cook for a minute after taking out the meat and before pouring in the deglazing liquid

Serving Suggestions

• Serve with a hunk of warmed ciabatta
• Or a bowl of boiled new potatoes
• Or over some tagliatelle
• And blanched asparagus or beans or peas spritzed with lemon juice
• Or some wilted baby spinach (in the plastic bag it came in in the microwave for a minute)