Celeriac 2 ways, Apple Chop Salad and Fried Pork Chop Dinner

I'm a big fan of sit down Sunday night dinners and I like to make them special. Ian and I usually eat all of our dinners together but during the week I usually make 1 pot 30 minute meals so for the weekends I try to put in a little extra effort.


It all started with this giant celeriac that I bought that was clearly more than what could be consumed by 2 people. So I decided on Celeriac Gratin, which I've already posted the recipe. And I had just read another one of my favourite food bloggers David Lebovitz post for Celeriac Remoulade which I love and used to have to make in vast quantities when I worked at La Baguette and L'Eschalote on Granville Island.

Since both of those dishes are fairly rich with mayo or cheese I had to figure out what would pair well. It just so happened that I these amazing pork chops in the fridge from a recent trip to Organic World in Maple Ridge which is now only place I want to buy meat from. Nicole told me about the place when I was searching for a new raw meat supplier for Boomer as his diet was costing us a fortune in the city. Not only are they inexpensive, they are organic, free range and humane, plus they stock every type of meat you can think of, make their own sausages and sell raw organic dog food for $1.50 per lb. I now have a freezer full of elk, bison, pork, lamb & chicken and Boomer has discovered that he's quite fond of deer liver.

Anyway so I had these gorgeous bone in pork loin chops. What to do, what to do. I started surfing my usual sites and flipping through the Fanny Farmer and I found a couple different recipes for pan fried chops and here's what I did

1/2 cup flour
1⁄4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup canola oil
2 1"-thick pork loin chops (fry with the bone in)
1 tbsp granulated garlic
freshly ground black pepper
kosher salt

Salt & Pepper chops

Mix flour, cornstarch and garlic with a pinch more pepper and salt into a wide shallow dish.

Heat oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Dredge chops in flour mixture, shake off any excess, and fry, turning once, until well browned and cooked through, 5–6 minutes per side. Transfer pork chops to a rack to drain off excess oil, this will keep the coating crisp, don't just drain them directly on paper towel unless would want soggy chops.

Transfer pork chops to a cutting board and cut meat away from bones before plating.

Lastly pork and apple just have to live together, so I made a quick little apple chop salad. I just made this up and it is now a new fave.

1 granny smith apple (buy organic, read about the dirty dozen and you'll know why)
1/2 a lemon juiced
handful fresh chives (I grow my own, they grow like weeds)
1 tbsp Hazelnut oil
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper

dice up the apple, leave the peel on
squeeze lemon over apples
roughly chop chives
toss in oil
salt & pepper lightly

Serve with a healthy dose of Glee or the Fringe and if I wasn't pregnant right now I would recommend a nice cool glass of Riesling.