Piggin' lovely! Pork Chops with Chorizo and Pepper Sauce with Manchego Rice

 

 

Day 4 of my blogging marathon. I am posting every day this week because who knows when I will be able to post again once I am back at work. Who knows if I will ever be able to cook again let's be honest, let alone take pictures of it and then blog about it. Anyway, in the spirit of running my freezer down so I can stock them in the lead up to Christmas full of cut price whoopsies and mark downs, I have been scouring the lower echelons of the freezer for something to defrost and cook. Lo and behold I found pork chops, which I quite like but they don't really do for some of the others in the Lola and Finn household, especially dad, who has pronounced pork as tasteless on many occasions. And, in all fairness to him, he is probably right. I think pork can be quite disappointing, especially supermarket pork, which this was. So, a quick Google turned up a Rachael Ray recipe which I thought would be great for ramping up the flavour a bit. I adapted the recipe to what I had, my adaptations listed in red, below. The notable change I made was leaving the sauce chunky by not blitzing the peppers in a food processor. I preferred the idea

 

Have to give a big shout out to Manchego rice by the way. I bought some Manchego cheese from the supermarket ages ago because it was a whoopsie, and after using it once, it was starting to look a bit sorry and dried out in the fridge. Some vigorous grating later and it was given a new lease of life, as was the rice, which was really tasty. Lola has confessed that she could probably eat buckets of the stuff.

 

Pork Chops with Chorizo and Pepper Sauce with Manchego Rice, adapted from the original recipe by Rachael Ray, which you can find here.

 

Serves Lola, Finn, Mum and Dad generously

 

Ingredients:

 

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan, plus some for drizzling

4 large, boneless centre-cut pork chops, 1 1/2-inches thick

1/2 tablespoon paprika or smoked sweet paprika, half a palm full ( I used paprika 'picante')

Salt and pepper

1/4 pound chorizo, casing removed, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 small yellow onion, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped thyme leaves, 4 sprigs (I used a tsp of dried thyme)

1 (16-ounce) jar pequillo peppers or roasted red peppers, drained (I used 250g of frozen peppers, defrosted)

1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, a couple of generous handfuls

1/4 cup dry sherry or dry white wine, eyeball it (I used white wine)

 

Manchego Cheesy Rice:

2 tablespoons butter

1 1/2 cups white rice

3 cups chicken stock

Handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped

1 cup grated Manchego cheese

Salt and pepper

 

Method

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

 

 

 

Heat a large frying pan over medium-high to high heat. Add extra-virgin olive oil, 2 turns of the pan. Season the chops with paprika, salt, and pepper. Place chops in skillet and sear meat to caramelise, about 2 minutes each side.

 

Start to cook the rice (the actual method for the rice is below)

 

Transfer the chops to a baking sheet and place in the oven to finish off, 8 to 10 minutes, or until meat is firm to touch, but not tough. Remove from the oven and let the chops rest covered with a piece of aluminium foil for a few minutes.

 

 

 

While the chops are in the oven, return the frying pan to the cook top over medium heat. Add the diced chorizo and cook stirring frequently for 2 minutes or until the chorizo starts to release its paprika tinted juices. Add the garlic, onion, thyme, salt, and pepper.

 

Cook meat and onions for about 3 minutes.

 

 

 

Add the wine to the chorizo and onions and stir, then add the chopped peppers. Cook another minute or two or until the peppers are heated through.

 

 

Place a chop on each dinner plate and top with the chorizo-roasted pepper sauce.  At this point, the rice should be ready to add the cheese and parsley to (see below):

 

Manchego Cheesy Rice:
                       

Melt butter over medium heat in a medium saucepan. Add rice and toast in butter for a couple of minutes.

 

Add stock and bring rice up to a boil.

 

Cook the rice until it is tender and liquids are absorbed. Remove from heat, fluff rice with fork, then stir in the parsley and cheese. Season the rice with salt and pepper, to taste.