Hi, I am Emily Richards and we’re going to be doing a wonderful pan seared pork chop with roasted butternut squash and Ontario apples.
We’re going to start off with our butternut squash and I have one squash here that I have chopped up, peeled and chopped and I am going to add a little bit of flavoring to it. I am going add some local thyme and I am just going to chop that up. There we go and we need two tablespoons. Anytime you are using fresh herbs, you want to use lots of them because they really provide a lot of flavor.
I am just going to add them to my bowl here. So, a couple tablespoons and then just a little bit of canola oil as well because we are going to be putting these in the oven to roast so we want to coat them really well. And in goes my butternut squash. Then I am also going to season them with a little bit of salt and pepper just to help the flavor come along. And I like using fresh ground pepper just to get that add a bit of flavor.
And then you want to coat the squash. That just goes right on your baking sheet and you want to make sure that you spread them out onto a single layer, so that they get caramelized and get lots of golden color just like that. And they go into a 425º oven and we’re going let that cook for about 10 minutes and we’re going to get our apples ready.
So, I am going add two local Ontario apples into the oven with our butternut squash. So, they are going to roast and get a really nice sweetness to them and also that nice tender crisp texture.
First thing I am going to do, I’m definitely going to leave the skins on. I want to have that great red color but you could use green apples here as well which would be quite lovely. I am going to cut them and take out the seeds. I am going to quarter them. That tends to be the easiest for me. Just take out the core. If you have an apple core you could just use that and slice them up. I want kind of fairly thick slices because I’d still want them to retain their shape and their texture.
So this is great, you can just get everything ready while things are cooking away in the oven and just keep adding to it and then by the end of it, you have a beautiful meal to serve. There we go. So our apples are ready to go to the oven.
So, I am just going to put those all around just like that. And then those go in for another five minutes. So, while our apples and butternut squash are roasting in the oven, we’re going to get our pork chops ready.
So, I have some beautiful local Ontario pork chops and you can use center cut or rib chops which I have couple examples of both and we’re going to add some seasoning too. We’re going add some more fresh thyme to the mustard. I am using a little Dijon mustard to get a little bit of tang in there and some fresh garlic. Then I am also going to add a little bit of black pepper. And then I am going to season the pork chops just with a little bit of salt before I put the mustard on just like that.
So, take a little bit of your mustard mixture and I am just going to use a spoon here to spread it on and it does not need to be a thick layer. We’re really just putting this on here for seasoning. Ontario pork is so lean and has such delicious flavor on its own that it does not really need to be overloaded with too much. There we go.
And I like using the pork chops with bone in just because I find that they have a little bit more juiciness, a little bit more flavor and they are perfect for roasting. See if I can squeeze this right into the pan here.
So, once we get some color on the one side of the pork chop, they are ready to flip. Strain them over and you can really get the aroma of the mustard and the thyme and the garlic on the pork chops and I can smell the apples and the squash in the oven.
So, once both sides have that really nice, golden color, you can just take a peak to make that the under side has a nice golden brown color. We’re actually going to put this into the oven with our squash and apples.
So, I am going to put the pork chops right on top. So all those delicious juices go right into these squash and the apples and then you can finish getting the rest of your meal ready while these finish roasting in the oven.
These are going to take about 10 minutes just to finish off and you just want that nice hint of pink. There we have our pan seared pork chops with roasted butternut squash and apples.
What I am going to do is just lift up one of our pork chops here and scoop some of these delicious vegetables out onto our plate. You could see that the butternut squash is nice and gold and the apples have that nice caramelized color to them as well. Scoop a few more on there and then I am going to put that pork chop right on top and I am serving it along side some wonderful local spicy kale which is another recipe you can check out on the web.
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