Apricot jam, balsamic vinegar, garlic and thyme flavor these delicious weeknight-quick pork chops. Recipe below.
WHEN I WAS GROWING UP, EATING IN RESTAURANTS was something my family almost never did. Every evening when dinner showed up on the table, it was because my mom or my grandma had cooked it, usually after working a full day. I didn’t really think about it as a kid—it’s just what happened. But I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately as eating in restaurants is something most of us are rarely doing right now, if at all.
Like it or not, most of us are cooking a lot more these days, with mixed reactions. We read a lot about the pressure and boredom people run up against cooking nearly every meal every day. And yes, we do feel that too—more days than we’d care to admit. But on good days, we feel other things. Creativity, often on a modest but no less pleasing scale. And a kind of cozy self-sufficiency.
In the before times, the creativity that drove us in the kitchen was trying new ingredients and techniques, or doing surprising things with familiar ingredients or dishes. Exploring new-to-us cuisines and cultures. Now creativity centers more around working with what we have on hand or what we can easily get. How to cook chicken thighs or pork chops or whatever yet again and do something new with them.
Cozy self-sufficiency kind of snuck up on us. I first noticed it when I’d made our no-knead loaf pan bread a few times and no longer needed to look at the recipe. I could mix up a batch of dough in a few minutes and start it on its way to becoming a fresh loaf of bread. Walking in the kitchen later and seeing the dish towel-draped dough pushing up against the towel as it rose just pleased me. It still does, every time.
These pork chops pushed all the buttons. Chops are an easy thing to get because we’re open to variations—we prefer chops with bones, but boneless ones are okay too. The thickness may vary and you just work with that. A bonus with pork chops is how well they play with sweet and tangy flavors. Knowing I had some in the fridge that needed cooking, I thought of what else we had on hand. Apricot jam. Balsamic vinegar. Garlic and dried thyme. The cozy self-sufficiency came from knowing I was putting together something weeknight simple that would be genuinely good to eat. Not life changing, but good.
And that made me remember my mom and my grandma in the various modest kitchens of my childhood. Cooking something every night, making sure we all had something good to eat. I guess I was paying more attention than I thought.
Apricot Balsamic Pork Chops
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup apricot preserves
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 large clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 4 pork chops, with bone or boneless
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Combine preserves, vinegar and water in a measuring cup or bowl. Use a fork to break up any chunks of apricot. Add garlic and thyme, and mix to combine. Set aside.
- Pat chops dry with a paper towel and season generously on both sides with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large sauté pan over medium-high flame until quite hot. Brown chops on one side, about 4 minutes. Turn chops, reduce heat to medium and cook about 3 minutes. Transfer chops to a plate—they don’t need to be completely cooked through yet, they will go back in the pan.
- Add apricot preserve mixture to the pan and cook, scraping up any browned bits, for about 2 minutes. Return chops to pan and let sauce cook down slightly as chops finish cooking, turning to coat on both sides.
- When the sauce reaches a consistency you like (you can see from the photo, I was impatient and let it be thin), plate the chops and spoon additional sauce over them. Serve.
Restaurants were always a big deal when I was growing up, too. Then before covid, were a pretty normal part of a week. We’ve always done a lot of cooking, but it’s definitely more interesting these days — trying different things, and we’re in a different rhythm with it (kind of like your bread baking). Anyway, this is a lovely dish — just the sort of thing I like to make. The apricot sounds lovely.
We never ate a restaurant when I was a kid on a farm in Germany. I remember celebrating birthdays, weddings , and holidays with huge meals. Your pork chops look great , I have some leftover red cabbage that I made and some apricot jam . It should be tasty.
Oh, I was lucky as a kid ! Happened to be the only one of pretty mature parents who often ate out. They did not much trust babysitters . . . so, guess what ? The poor restaurateurs had to find a pile of phone books to lift me high enough and the waiters kept their fingers crossed I knew my manners !! All that said I learnt to love good food ! Love pork chops which love a sweetish taste . . . well, perchance a tad less of the preserves . . . thank you !
John, there are a couple of modest Chicago restaurants we are particularly missing right now. About once a week, we’ve been getting contactless takeout from various restaurants—partly to support them, but also to enjoy restaurant cooking if we can’t dine in now.
Gerlinde, sounds like a pretty good way to celebrate. And I was delighted to find your blog! I hope your Bonny Doon friend is okay now; years ago, we stopped at Bonny Doon Vineyards on a drive down the California coast. A beautiful area and a wonderful winemaker.
Eha, sounds like a lovely dining education you had. Don’t worry about the preserves taking over the dish—everything plays together nicely.
I love the flavours in this dish – apricot jam and balsamic together, I bet these chops are so delicious! And yes, growing up in Europe, we never really ate out – no one did!