Comfort food at its best. The smell of apples and pork roasting in the oven makes for a welcome start to fall. The rich flavour of creamy scalloped potatoes with French Boursin cheese and crispy green beans help soften the loss of summer. This is an easy meal to prepare ahead of time. The roast and potatoes take an hour to cook and both can be cooked at the same time. Serve fresh fruit and assorted cheeses for dessert.
Roast pork with apple sage stuffing
2 boneless pork chops, approx 2.5-cm (2-inches) thick
2 1-cm (1/2-inch) thick onion slices
250 ml (1 cup) bread crumbs
50 ml (1/4 cup) fresh parsley, minced
1 ml (1/4 tsp) dried sage
1 ml (1/4 tsp) poultry seasoning
1 ml (1/4 tsp) thyme
15 ml (1 tbsp) butter
50 ml (1/4 cup) onion, diced
50 ml (1/4 cup) celery, diced
1 medium apple, 1/2 diced, 1/2 sliced
1 egg
Water or chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 180º C (350º F). Place pork chops in a casserole dish on top of a couple of slices of onion. This gives the juices in the bottom of the dish the rich flavour of the pork chops. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Mix bread crumbs with parsley, sage, poultry seasoning and thyme in a small bowl. Set aside. In a small saucepan, sauté onion, celery, and diced apple in butter for a couple of minutes. Add to the bread crumbs. Mix egg with a little water or chicken broth and add to the bread crumb mixture to make it moist. Scoop the stuffing onto the top of the pork chops. Decorate the top with apple slices and a sprig of parsley. Bake for 1 hour.
Boursin scalloped potatoes
3-4 medium potatoes, thinly sliced
75 g (3 oz) Garlic and Fine Herb Boursin cheese
1 small shallot
15 ml (1 tbsp) butter
250 ml (1 cup) whole milk or cream
Chives
Vegetable spray
Place potato slices in cold water. Spray a shallow casserole dish with vegetable spray. Melt butter in a small saucepan, sauté shallots for a minute, add Boursin cheese and milk, and heat until cheese melts. Do not boil.
Drain potatoes well and wipe dry with paper towelling. Layer potatoes in dish, add half the milk mixture, layer on the rest of the potatoes and pour on the remainder of the milk. Sprinkle chives over the top. Bake in oven with pork roast for one hour.
Green beans with lemon and parmesan cheese
250 g (8 oz) green beans, ends trimmed
25 ml (1 tbsp) butter
Lemon juice to taste
Reggiano parmesan cheese
Steam beans until tender; drain. Add butter and lemon juice and stir to mix together. Serve on a platter and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
