Pork chops with spelt, wild garlic and purple sprouting broccolli

Pork chops with spelt, wild garlic and purple sprouting broccolli

This quick and easy pork recipe celebrates some of spring’s most prized ingredients – wild garlic and purple sprouting broccoli.

Pork chops with spelt, wild garlic and purple sprouting broccolli

You can learn how to forage for wild garlic here.

  • Serves icon Serves 2
  • Time icon Hands-on time 30 min

This quick and easy pork recipe celebrates some of spring’s most prized ingredients – wild garlic and purple sprouting broccoli.

You can learn how to forage for wild garlic here.

Nutrition: per serving

Calories
629kcals
Fat
18.5g (6.6g saturated)
Protein
39.3g
Carbohydrates
74.4g (10.6g sugars)
Fibre
5.2g
Salt
2.4g

Ingredients

  • 3 onions, thinly sliced
  • A few knobs of butter
  • 150g pearled spelt (from Waitrose, Ocado or health food shops)
  • 100ml dry cider or dry white wine
  • 500ml-750ml good quality fresh chicken stock
  • 2 British, free-range pork chops (with no skin but a bit of fat left on), at room temperature
  • Olive oil for rubbing
  • 1 handful purple sprouting broccoli
  • 2 handfuls wild garlic (washed well) – or the same quantity of spinach mixed with 2 chopped garlic cloves
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Method

  1. In a large, covered saucepan, cook the onions gently with a small knob of butter over a low heat for 20 minutes until very tender. Remove the lid, turn up the heat and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until caramelised.
  2. Meanwhile toast the spelt in a dry pan until it browns slightly and smells biscuitty. Tip the spelt into a large pan of water and bring to the boil. Drain, then rinse the spelt under cold running water to remove the excess starch.
  3. Add the spelt to the softened onions along with a splash of the cider and 500ml chicken stock. Season and simmer gently until cooked (about 15-20 minutes). Add a little extra stock if it looks dry.
  4. Season the chops generously with salt but not pepper, then rub lightly with oil. Heat a large frying pan over a high heat and sear the chops on both sides until they have a caramelised crust (see tip). Sear the fat and edges of the chop well.
  5. When the chops are well seared, reduce the heat and cook gently for 10-12 minutes, turning occasionally. When cooked through – a digital probe thermometer pushed into the thickest part of the meat should read about 70°C – transfer to a warm plate to rest and dab a knob of butter on top. Add the remaining cider to the pork pan over a medium heat and stir with a wooden spoon to dissolve any caramelised bits, then pour the pan juices over the chops.
  6. Warm the spelt again, adding more stock if needed. Taste, adjust the seasoning and add a knob of butter. Meanwhile, cook the broccoli in salted boiling water for 2 minutes. Add the wild garlic (or garlicky spinach) to the spelt and stir to wilt slightly. Serve the spelt and wild garlic with the chops on top and the broccoli on the side.

Nutrition

Nutrition: per serving
Calories
629kcals
Fat
18.5g (6.6g saturated)
Protein
39.3g
Carbohydrates
74.4g (10.6g sugars)
Fibre
5.2g
Salt
2.4g

delicious. tips

  1. If you’re cooking something in the oven already, you might find it easier to sear the chops on both sides until golden in an ovenproof pan, then transfer to the hot oven (200˚C/180˚C fan/ gas 6) for 5-6 minutes.

  2. Wild garlic is a springtime treat. It’s easy to forage in woodlands in the spring Find them by their strong whiff of garlic, elongated leaves and, later in the season, their delicate white fowers.

    Choose rare-breed pork chops from a good butcher, with at least 1cm fat on the outside of the chop.

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