Pork chops with sloe sauce and Savoy cabbage
This classic pork chop dinner is full of winter flavours – perfect after a long walk. If you can’t find sloes you could use plums or damsons.
Ingredients
- 1 small Savoy cabbage (about 400g/14oz), core removed, leaves shredded
- 1–2 tbsp virgin rapeseed oil
- 2 pork chops (each about 250g/9oz)
- 1 tsp olive oil
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the sauce
- handful of sloes or bullaces (approximately 100g/3½oz)
- 15g/½oz butter (only needed if the pork chops don’t yield much fat)
- 1 banana shallot, finely chopped
- 1 large garlic clove, finely chopped or grated
- 100ml/3½fl oz red wine
- few sprigs fresh thyme
- 100–120ml/3½–4fl oz chicken or other meat stock
- 1 tbsp runny honey or soft brown sugar
Method
Put the cabbage in a large lidded pan. Cover with water and boil for 3 minutes. Drain and return to the pan. Add the rapeseed oil and stir to coat the cabbage. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook over a very low heat, stirring the cabbage every now and again, for 20 minutes or until softened.
Rub the chops with the olive oil and season on both sides with salt and pepper. Cook for 4–6 minutes on each side (depending on thickness), until cooked through, or until they reach an internal temperature of 71C. Make sure you brown the fat along the edge. Cover with kitchen foil and rest for about 5 minutes while you make the sauce. Reserve a tablespoon of pork fat from the pan.
To make the sauce, stone the sloes using your fingers or a cherry stoner (alternatively, stone them after cooking, which is messy but easier). Put in a small pan and add just enough water to cover (approximately 150ml/¼ pint). Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and poach for a few minutes to allow them to break down a little. Set aside.
In another saucepan, heat the reserved pork fat (if the chops haven’t yielded much fat, add the butter). Add the shallot and garlic and cook for 1–2 minutes. Stir in the remaining ingredients and the poached fruit, including any poaching water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 3–5 minutes. Taste the sauce and add a little more honey or sugar, if needed. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Serve the sauce over the rested pork chops, alongside the cabbage.
Recipe Tips
Sloes are very seasonal and ready to be picked in October and November. Traditionally they were picked after the first frost, but you could pick them earlier and freeze to mimic that first frost. The theory behind this is that the frost splits the skins so the juices are released easily when cooking.
You can use frozen sloes in this recipe, they will just take a little longer to cook down. You’ll need to remove the stones after cooking.
