Glazed Pork Chopswith brown butter gnocchi / apple spinach salad
We love this fall-inspired meal for the first week of October. Even though there are a few components to work with, you'll be rewarded with a guest-worthy meal that's packed with flavors and textures.
Smarts: Be sure to let the butter for the sauce heat until it turns a light golden brown. It gives the butter a rich, nutty flavor and earns it the title of "brown butter."
Ingredients
- Vinegar, balsamic - 2 1/2 Tbsp
- Maple syrup - 2 tsp
- Mustard, Dijon - 2 tsp
- Oil, olive - 5 Tbsp
- Pork chops, bone-in or out - 4
- Oil, cooking - 1 Tbsp
- Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette (ingredients listed separately) - ~1/4 cup
- Foil - for cooking
- Shallots - 2 cloves, diced
- Sage - 4 leaves, thinly sliced
- Gnocchi, uncooked - 12 oz
- Butter - 3 Tbsp
- Lemon zest - 1/2 tsp
- Apples - 1, sliced
- Baby spinach - 5 oz
- Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette (ingredients listed separately) - ~1/4 cup
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Make vinaigrette - Whisk together vinegar, maple syrup, and mustard. Add olive oil while whisking. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Shallots / Sage - Prep as directed and combine. (Can be done up to 5 days ahead)
- Pork - Tenderize pork and season with some salt and pepper. (Can be done 1 day ahead)
- Apples - Slice apples.
Make
- Bring a stock pot of salted water to a boil. Cook gnocchi according to package directions. Drain.
- Put vinaigrette (portion for salad) in a large mixing bowl. Top with apples and spinach and set aside. Wait to toss until just before serving.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add cooking oil and then place pork chops on heated oil. Sear on both sides.
- Pour vinaigrette (portion for pork) over pork and cover with foil. Lower heat and cook until pork reaches 145F / 63C, 2 to 3 minutes for thin pork chops or 5 to 6 minutes for thicker cuts.
- Move pork to a cutting board and let rest, covered, for 5 minutes. Return skillet to low-medium heat (leave any remaining vinaigrette in the pan).
- To heated skillet add butter and then shallots and sage. Saute until butter starts to brown slightly and sage is turning crisp.
- Add gnocchi and saute until coated in butter-sage sauce. Remove from heat and season with a pinch of salt. Zest lemon over top.
- Slice pork and serve with gnocchi. Toss salad to serve on the side.
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Reviews
This meal has 41 reviews
We loved this meal! I used Cauliflower Gnocchi from Trader Joe’s instead of regular pasta. I cooked them by defrosting in the microwave, patting dry, then frying in the cast iron. After they were crispy I tossed it in the sage butter. So yummy!
This smelled amazing when cooking, but then ended up being pretty tasteless and dry. I also over-zested a bit, so the lemon came through as the primary flavor in some bites. The salad was yummy, but pretty plain. I would add Gorgonzola and sliced almonds to the salad.
Loved the pork and gnocchi. The salad could have used something more.
I marinated the pork in the vinaigrette for a while then grilled. Family was happy.
Very tasty! Love the brown butter. Also, this was super easy to make.
Very good. But next time I will cut the butter in half.