Brown Sugar Bourbon Apple Pork Chops with Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Green Beans

A meal from late 2021 that is worthy of recording and making again...

A friend who gets Hello Fresh meal prep kits had put her subscription on hold for a while, but then forgot to select meals for her first week of it coming back on line in November. When they selected meals for her, they included pork, which she doesn't eat.  So I was the lucky recipient of two meal kits for 2!  

Unlike Local Crate, the Hello Fresh folks include the measurements for all the ingredients, and they specified the spice/seasoning mix.  This means that I should be able to easily recreate the recipe on my own, which I look forward to doing.  This was kind of a lot of work for a dinner for just me--especially on a workday--but I can see doing different parts of it with different short-cut meals components.  

I really liked everything about this meal, and I felt kinda fancy when it was all done.  

Ingredients:

• 12 oz. Yukon Gold potatoes
• 6 oz. green beans
• 1 apple
• 2 scallions
• 12 oz. pork chops
• 10.8 g McCormick Grill Mates seasoning (Brown Sugar Bourbon flavor)
• Chicken stock concentrate (1 serving?)
• 2 Tbsp. sour cream 
• 1 tsp vegetable oil 
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp white sugar
• 2 Tbsp butter 
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Cook Potatoes
• Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 425 degrees
• Dice potatoes--1/2 inch pieces.  
• Place in pot with enough salted water to cover by 2 inches
• Bring to a boil and cook until tender (15-20 minutes)
• Save 1/2 cup potato liquid, then drain and return potatoes to the pot
• Keep off heat but covered until time to mash
2. Cook Pork
• While potatoes cook, pat pork dry with paper towels
• Season all over 
• Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat
• Add pork and cook until browned and fully cooked through, 4 to 6 minutes per side (reduce heat to medium if browning too quickly)
• Turn off heat, transfer pork to plate to rest, wipe out pan
3. Roast beans and prep apples/scallions
• While pork cooks, trim green beans if necessary
• Toss on baking sheet with a drizzle of olive oil, salt, and pepper
• Roast in oven on middle rack for 12 to 15 minutes
• While bean are in the oven, halve, core, and dice  apple into 1/4-inch pieces
• Trim and thinly slice scallions, separating whites from greens
4. Make sauce
• Melt 1 Tbsp butter in pan used for pork, over medium-high heat
• Add apple and scallion whites
• Season with salt and pepper
• Cook, stirring occassionally, until golden (4 to 6 minutes)
• Whisk together stock concentrate, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 tsp sugar.  
• Add to pan and cook until sauce is thickened and apple is tender (5-7 minutes)
• In the last 2 minutes, return pork to pan until warmed through 
• Season with salt and pepper
• Turn off heat
5. Mash potatoes
• Mash potatoes until mostly smooth
• Stir in scallion greens, sour cream, 1 Tbsp butter, and a splash of the potato water.
• Season with salt and pepper
6. Serve
• Divide pork, mashed potatoes, and green beans between two plates. 
• Top pork with apple pan sauce