Glazed Pork Chops
with brown butter gnocchi / apple spinach salad
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, fresh - 4 leaves, thinly sliced
- Gnocchi, uncooked - 12 oz
- Butter - 3 Tbsp
- Lemon zest - 1/2 tsp
- Apples - 1, sliced
- Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette (ingredients listed separately) - ~1/4 cup
- Baby spinach - 5 oz
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.
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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.
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
Most Helpful
Had guests over because I accidentally prepped the glaze twice. They loved the salad and parsnips. I didn't sear the pork chops enough because they were dry to me. There was a lot of glaze left in the skillet after the meat was cooked (which seemed to take much longer than posted), and I think the butter was overwhelmed by the glaze left over in the skillet. First time I bought parsnips though, and they were a success.
1 Helpful47 reviews
The gnocchi was so simple and tasted amazing. We brined and grilled our pork chops but they were tasty too
0 HelpfulWe used really thick pork chops so it did take longer to cook. The meat thermometer is my friend so I didn’t overcook. The gnocchi was kind of bland but I wonder if I had used fresh sage it would have been a 5 star meal. Hate when I miss an ingredient. I used ground sage but think it was old.
0 HelpfulGood flavor. Both of us liked the gnocchi. Needed a little more flavor on the chops - maybe add more marinade and let it reduce in the pan.
0 HelpfulEveryone enjoyed this but it wasn't super filling. Ate the whole 4 portions between 3 of us. Added extra beans to the gnocchi and feta to the salad.
0 HelpfulLoved everything about this meal! Prepping over the weekend definitely made it cooking day much easier. Unfortunately, I learned that my husband is not a fan of the smell of vinegar .... he ate the pork chops but nothing else. I ate everything and loved it!
0 HelpfulSalad and dressing was wonderful. I did add some sunflower seeds and dried cranberries. The pork chops were ok, but when I split the dressing, I think I had more oil in the part put aside for the pork, so it did not seem to glaze the chops that well. The gnocchis were great in the brown sauce. Would make again. But make dressing separately.
0 Helpful