Whip It Up! Week One, Apple-Onion Pork Chops

I tried a couple new recipes this week, but due to photography constraints and general blog ennui, I am only sharing my favorite. Inspiration came in the form of the ingredients, and the recipe that was used was the simple result of a Google search that contained the words "pork," "apple," and "onion." (I have a "bad" habit of bulk-buying things like apples and onions because I feel like they're "anytime" ingredients, and some are invariably wasted because that "anytime" really isn't.) Thanks, AllRecipes!

First, the lineup. So few ingredients, which I loved:
(Note the bag of pre-cut sweet potato fries...I'll get to them in a sec.)

After trimming and browning the pork, it was time for the apples and onions to join the fun. What I loved about this step is that you're using the same pan, so there is less to wash, and as the cider vinegar is added, it helps everything form a really nice pan sauce!
Ok, now for the sad tale of the sweet potato fries. Last week, I was a total badass and walked to Trader Joe's rather than driving (yaaay!), and picked up a bunch of produce, including a tempting bag of pre-cut sweet potato fries. I had had them before in restaurants as more of a sweet than savory item, and was eager to try them out. They seemed like a good match for the general sweetness of this dish, so I followed the really, really easy directions on the back of the bag, and popped them into the oven. When I opened the oven to turn them about halfway through, it became clear that we would not be eating them as traditional fries-- I had neglected to lubricate the baking sheet, and there were bits of sweet potato allllll over it. Despite my best scraping efforts, this was the resulting sweet potato "bed" for our pork chops: After the pork chops had done their thing in the pan along with the onions and apples for about twenty minutes, this was the resulting plate:
And now, the verdict!
Was the recipe easy to follow? Yes, absolutely. There were two steps, folks!
Did the dish taste good? Yup-- it was very tasty. Having the combination of apple, slightly caramelized onion, sweet potato, and pork in each bite was the ultimate comfort food experience. So sweet, but in a very healthy-seeming way!
Would you make it again? Certainly. I think that, because it is so similar to a Rachael Ray recipe that I have made a bunch of times with chicken, I will borrow from that one and not cook the pork all the way through when browning. All that simmer time, despite the liquid, can tend to dry it out a bit. Otherwise, it's perfect-- though I might also want to re-try to sweet potatoes, or play with some root vegetable puree next time.

Apple-Onion Pork Chops, from AllRecipes.com (this one serves 4, I halved it)
INGREDIENTS

* 4 (4 ounce) lean boneless pork loin chops
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon pepper
* 2 tablespoons olive or canola oil, divided
* 2 cups sliced red onion (1/2 inch slices)
* 1 large tart apple - peeled and chopped
* 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar or cider vinegar
* 1/3 cup reduced sodium chicken broth

DIRECTIONS

1. Sprinkle both sides of pork chops with salt and pepper. In a large nonstick skillet, brown chops in 1 tablespoon oil on both sides over medium-high heat. Remove and keep warm. In the same skillet, cook onions and apple in remaining oil over low heat until golden brown, about 30 minutes.
2. Return pork chops to the pan. Add vinegar; cook for 2 minutes. Stir in the broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 18-20 minutes or until meat is tender.

The bonus with AllRecipes-- you can scale back the recipes using a really cool clicky-number field (technical term) that they include. Not that I am that awful at math, but come on, I need all the help I can get.