And the best thing is that, after the initial work, you can just leave it to cook while you do something else. Brown the pork, add the juice and leave to braise. No need to peek and stir. Take a long bath if you wish and the pork will be ready when you are.
What initial work? Searing the pork and caramelizing onions. This process adds both texture and flavor to the dish. It’s doesn’t take long and it’s not hard work.
Melt butter in a pan, add the pork, sear one side then flip them over. Dump in the onions immediately. By the time the other side of the pork browns, the onions have softened and caramelized lightly.
Sprinkle in salt then pour in the orange juice. The pork braises in the orange juice until most of the liquid has been soaked up. This is the part where you leave the pork, onion, salt and orange juice to do their work. Avoid peeking. There is no need to stir if your pork chops are arranged in a single layer. When the pork is done, pour in honey.
A note about the orange juice. While the juice from almost any orange can be used to make this dish, ones with sugar/acid ratio with very little bitterness are best. Orange zest is an optional ingredient here to give the dish better aroma. If the idea of ingesting orange zest bothers you, peel the zest in large pieces them scoop them out and discard before serving the dish.
Pork chops with honey orange sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 boneless pork chops - you may also use bone-in pork steaks or chops
- 1 large onion - peeled and thinly sliced
- juice of 2 to 3 large oranges
- zest from one orange - optional
- salt
- ¼ cup honey - or to taste
- orange slices - to garnish
- fresh greens - to garnish
- chopped roasted walnuts - to garnish
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a pan.
- Over high heat, sear the pork chops, flipping them over when one side is nicely browned around the edges.
- Right after flipping the pork chops, add the sliced onion, and cook until other side of the pork is also browned along the edges and the onion slices start to caramelize.
- Season the pork with salt and pour in the orange juice. Optionally, add orange zest.
- Lower the heat, cover and braise the pork chops in the orange juice until the liquid has almost dried and the onions are soft and brown. Should take 20 to 30 minutes.
- Pour in the honey. Stir. If the sauce is too sticky, add a tablespoonful of water. Then, turn off the heat.
- Serve the pork chops as is. Or garnish with orange slices, fresh greens and chopped roasted walnuts before serving.
