Читать книгу The Joyful Home Cook - Rosie Birkett - Страница 30

Pork chops rubbed with fennel, thyme and cayenne

Serves 2–4

You can’t beat a succulent pork chop for a simple, satisfying meal thrown together in a matter of minutes. This effortless fennel, thyme and cayenne rub flavours the meat beautifully, and is also good as a seasoning for homemade pork burgers, or a rub for chicken. Find chunky, best-end pork loin chops with a nice layer of fat for crisping up. Serve with a bright, sharp shaved salad such as the Shaved Fennel, Radish and Pickled Peach Salad (see here and pictured here).

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 tbsp sea salt

½ tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp caster sugar

grated zest of ½ unwaxed lemon

leaves from 2 sprigs of thyme

4 skinless pork best-end loin chops (about 250g each)

1 Toast the fennel seeds in a dry frying pan over a medium-high heat for a minute or two, until fragrant and golden. Transfer to the bowl of a food processor, or a pestle and mortar, add the salt, cayenne pepper, sugar, lemon zest and thyme and blitz or pound in the mortar until finely ground.

2 Season the flesh of the pork chops with the salt mixture, rubbing it into the meat but avoiding the fat (you’ll only need about half of the salt mixture – store the rest in an airtight container and use it for other meats, or chicken). Leave the pork chops to sit in the rub at room temperature for 1 hour (if you’re leaving them for any longer than that, keep them in the fridge), then gently rinse them and pat dry with kitchen paper.

3 Heat a griddle or skillet over a medium-high heat, or prepare a barbecue.

4 Grill the pork for 5 minutes on each side (or a little longer if the chops are really thick), pressing the fat against the pan or barbecue grate to render some of it out and crisp it up. If you’re cooking the pork in a pan, baste it in its own fat. Remove from the heat and leave to rest for 10 minutes, then serve with a salad.