Gordon's Chops

I'm a fan of Gordon Ramsay's The F Word on BBC America. Given, I usually skipped through the kitchen challenge part unless there's a recipe I really liked, but I love how Gorden teaches us to cook not with a recipe but what goes in it.

Then again, once in a while I still have to peak and find out the actual recipe e.g. how hot the oven has to be, that kind of thing.

One recipe is a big hit here at the house, the Spiced Pork Chops with Sweet Potatoes. Watch the video here.

ETA December 2010: Original recipe link has gone dead so I'm recreating the recipe for you right here.

Oh, and it's really easy to make and doesn't take a lot of time. Perfect mid-week dinner.



Adapted from the new healthy version featured on Rachael Ray's recently.

• 4 pork loin chops with bone, about 10 ounces each
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon mild chili powder, to taste
• 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
• Sea salt and black pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Few thyme sprigs
• 4 garlic cloves (unpeeled), lightly smashed
• 5 to 6 star anise, lightly smashed
• 1 teaspoon coriander seeds, lightly crushed

First, the marinade. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Rub it all over the chops and sit and marinade for at least 30 minutes to overnight.

In a hot pan with a few glugs of olive oil, sear the pork chops until brown on each side. Tilt the pan and baste the chops with all the juices and oil. Then into the oven for 350F. About 10 minutes or so until the meat is just firm when lightly pressed.

And that's that for the chops! Serve drizzle with some of the pan juice.

The original recipe serves with some mashed sweet potatoes, but since Brandon isn't big on sweet potatoes, I just did regular mashed potatoes. I also saved time by not peeling the potatoes.

My notes:

I did half a recipe: 2 chops, 2 potatoes. Aside from the oven temperature (180C is 350F, by the way), everything else was pretty much eyeballed.

But you know me and my household picky eater. I'm actually surprised that Brandon's okay with the star anise and coriander seeds. Instead of crushing with a pan like Gordon, I pulled out my new "spice grinder" to play with, a Cuisineart coffee grinder actually. Heeheee. Other than that, the pork chops were done up according to the recipe.




Sometimes I want to just make the pork with regular mashed potatoes for Brandon AND sweet potatoes for me because I'm curious. I'll let you know if I ever get there. :)

Now, Gordon's way of cooking the sweet potatoes is to boil them in chicken stock and then you drain out the broth. I know you'll get more flavor into the potatoes but I feel that is such a waste of broth! With my plain taters, I cooked them in salted water and added a splash of stock along with butter and a little cream when I mashed them to get the flavor back in. Frankly, why waste a perfectly good pot of stock!

The spices on this pork are ADDICTIVE! I can't get the flavors and the smells out of my head for days. The way we cooked it, the pork is nice and juicy. I'm already drooling just thinking about it.