Seasonal Plate One Skillet Pork Chop Dinner

Pine Tree Apple Orchard-White Bear Lake, Minnesota

After Apple-Picking
by Robert Frost

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well
Upon my way to sleep before it fell,
And I could tell
What form my dreaming was about to take.
Magnified apples appear and disappear,
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing clear.
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.
And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
The rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.
One can see what will trouble
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.
Were he not gone,
The woodchuck could say whether it's like his
Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
Or just some human sleep.

_____________________________________________________

Cinnamon Apple Pear Sauced Pork Chops 
Cook's Notes: 

This recipe was submitted recently for the Seasonal Plate food column. It was paired with a salad and apple crisp (recipe previously posted)  

 https://sockfairies.blogspot.com/2022/10/apple-crisp-with-caramel-drizzle.html 

The Cinnamon Apple Pear Sauced Pork Chops recipe serves four and was inspired by cookingclassy.com and Cookinglight.com
Ingredients:

• 4 (5 oz.) 3/4-inch thick boneless pork chops
• 1-1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup sweet onions, diced
• 1 teaspoon herbes de Provence, divided , or 1- 1/2 teaspoon each minced fresh sage and rosemary
• 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 cup apple cider
• 1 heaping tablespoon of  cornstarch
• 1- 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon Saigon cinnamon or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1-1/2 tablespoons butter
• 2 medium sweet crisp apples (honey crisp, gala, fuji, golden delicious etc.), skin removed and cut into chunks
• 2 Bosc pears, skin removed and cut into chunks

Directions:

• Let pork chops rest at room temperature for 10 minutes while preparing ingredients.
• Cut apples and pears and set aside.
• In a liquid measuring cup or bowl, whisk together broth, apple cider, mustard, cinnamon, allspice, and cornstarch. Set aside.
• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season both sides of the pork chops with salt, pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon of herbes de Provence.
• Once oil is simmering, add pork chops and onions. Sear until browned on the bottom, about 4 - 5 minutes, then flip the chops and continue to cook 4 - 5 minutes longer. Sauté the onions in the same pan.
• Transfer pork chops and onions to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. Wipe the pan with a paper towel. Melt butter in the same skillet over medium heat.
• Add in apples and pears with 1/2 teaspoon herbes de Provence, or fresh rosemary and sage. Sauté until tender, about 5 minutes. 
• Pour in the broth mixture and turn the heat to medium-low. Add in the chops and let them simmer in the sauce uncovered until reduced by about half, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes.
• Spoon apple/pear sauce over chops to serve.