For this recipe we’ve rendered lard by cooking pork back-fat in the pan before adding the pork chops, but you could render a larger batch to have on hand – it enhances the flavour of many meat dishes. We recommend making your own because it has far more flavour than the shop-bought version. Cook diced pork back-fat with 1cm of water in a saucepan over low heat until the fat is melted, then strain, chill, and lift the fat from the excess water and particles in the base of the pan.
Ingredients
Parmesan polenta
Rocket, mizuna and white nectarine salad
Method
Main
1.Preheat oven to 180C. For parmesan polenta, bring stock and milk to the simmer in a saucepan over medium heat, gradually add polenta, stirring continuously, then stir occasionally until polenta thickens (10-15 minutes). Just before serving, stir in parmesan and season to taste.
2.Heat fat in an ovenproof frying pan over high heat until rendered (5 minutes). Remove fat pieces with a slotted spoon and discard, then add pork chops to pan, season to taste and cook until golden (2 minutes each side). Add honey and rosemary, season to taste, squeeze over lemon and roast until pork is just cooked (5-10 minutes).
3.Meanwhile, for mizuna and white nectarine salad toss ingredients in a bowl to combine, then serve with parmesan polenta and pork chops drizzled with pan juices.
Pork back-fat is available from select butchers. You’ll need to order in advance.
This recipe is from the February 2011 issue of
.
Notes
