adventures in pork chops

I had an exciting pork-chop adventure the other day. As background, let me say that, to me, pork is the king-daddy-rat of meats: the tastiest. Up till then, I'd only ever baked my pork chops. Don't know why. I guess you get in a rut, and it sticks to the point that you can't imagine other possibilities.

So there I was, wallering around in my baked-chop rut, when a friend told me that frying was the best way to cook pork chops. How have I survived this long without knowing that? So I decided to give the frying thing a whirl. I'm nothing if not open minded. Wow. My world is officially rocked.

Fried pork chops are the best. I would like them in a car, I would like them in a bar, I would like them anyplace I are. They are so easy to make. Here's how to make two chops, multiply recipe as needed:

Assemble:
2 medium-thick pork chops
2 Tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon star anise, ground (optional)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon butter
1/2 apple peeled and chopped
1/4 medium onion chopped

Mix the flour, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl. Dredge chops in this mixture. Melt the butter in a frying pan with the olive oil on medium heat. Put the onions in one corner of the pan, the apples in another, and the chops in the middle. Sprinkle the star anise over the top of the chops. Stir the onions and apples occasionally as you cook the chops until no pink remains when cut, about 7 minutes per side. Before flipping them over, I held the chops, fat-edge-down, against the pan for a minute or so to get the little edge along the side crispy. When the chops are done, put on plate, stir onions and apples together (you may want to swish a little wine into the pan for this), and spoon over the chops.

I served this with steamed cauliflower with cheese sauce, and baked sweet potatoes. For the cheese sauce, I put some Velveeta in a dish with milk and microwaved it for a minute or so. Simple and delish.