Pork chops and the sauce the pan owes you

Name: Pork chops and the sauce the pan owes you
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 pork chops, visible fat trimmed; ½ cup long grain white rice; 1 zucchini, cut into medium dice; 4 oz grape tomatoes, halved; 2 scallions, thinly sliced, whites and greens kept apart; 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped; 1 tbsp salted butter; 1 tsp chipotles in adobo, minced; 1 tsp smoked paprika; olive oil, salt, pepper

Do not wash that pan. Everything stuck to it is the sauce, and the tomatoes will fetch it out for you.

At a Glance

Time

30 min

Adjust servings

Story

The brown crust welded to the pan after searing is called fond, and it is browned protein and sugar, which is to say it is concentrated everything. Water dissolves it, which is why deglazing works at all. Halved tomatoes are better than water for the job because they arrive with their own liquid and release it slowly as they collapse, so they lift the fond and thicken the sauce in the same two minutes. Anyone who rinses that pan between the meat and the sauce has thrown the dinner down the sink and kept the washing up.

Ingredients

2 pork chopsvisible fat trimmed
½ cup long grain white rice
1 zucchinicut into medium dice
4 oz grape tomatoeshalved
2 scallionsthinly sliced, whites and greens kept apart
2 cloves garlicroughly chopped
1 tbsp salted butter
1 tsp chipotles in adobominced
1 tsp smoked paprika
olive oilsalt, pepper

Method

Two chops, a pan and about four minutes of real sauce-making that happens while the pork rests. The rice and the courgette are done long before any of it.

Rice on. Rinsed, a cup of water, big pinch of salt, boil then covered on low for 13 to 15 minutes. Fork it through and leave it covered.
Courgette into a hot pan with oil, in one layer, 3 to 4 minutes without touching it, until one side browns. Scallion whites in for 2 to 3 more. Season, then tip the lot into the rice and put the lid back on.
Trim the chops of any visible fat, pat them properly dry, and season both sides hard with salt, pepper and the paprika. Same pan, more oil, medium high. 4 to 6 minutes a side for something faintly pink at the center. Onto a board to rest, and leave the pan alone.
Tomatoes and garlic straight into that pan. Press the tomatoes with the back of a spoon as they go, 2 to 3 minutes, until they give up their shape and their juice. ¼ cup water, the chipotle and the butter, and stir hard while the base comes clean. 1 to 2 minutes and it will be glossy.
Slice the pork across, spoon the sauce over, scallion greens on top, rice alongside. Anything that ran out of the meat while it rested goes into the sauce, obviously.