Pork chops with fennel, coriander and sweet-sour rhubarb relish

Prep time: 30 minutes, plus 2 hours of marinating time Cook time: 20 minutes

Serves 4

It’s important to get really good chops for this dish, which means going to a great butcher or ordering online from one. It will be more expensive than the supermarket but this isn’t a midweek dish, it’s a treat. And don’t overcook the meat! The relish is also good with gammon, duck and pork terrines.

INGREDIENTS For the relish

– 200ml cider vinegar – 200g granulated

sugar

– 1 cinnamon stick

– ½ tsp coriander seeds,

bruised

– 2cm piece of ginger,

peeled and grated

– 1 red chilli, halved, deseeded and finely sliced

– 1 red onion, very

finely sliced

– 350g trimmed rhubarb, cut into 4cm lengths

– about 15 mint leaves,

torn

For the pork chops

– 4 x 250g thick pork

loin chops, bone in – 1 tbsp fennel seeds – ¾ tbsp coriander

seeds

– ¾ tbsp black

peppercorns

– ¾ tbsp chilli flakes – ¾ tbsp sea-salt flakes – 4 tbsp olive oil

METHOD

To make the relish, put the cider vinegar and sugar in a pan and bring to the boil, stirring a little to help the sugar dissolve. Add the spices and simmer for 10 minutes, then add the onion and simmer for another 10 minutes. You just need to soften it. Add the rhubarb and poach it gently for about four minutes, or until it’s only just tender. It shouldn’t collapse. Leave to cool then add the mint.

Snip the fat on the pork chops with kitchen scissors, cutting every 2.5cm. Put them in a flat dish where they can lie separately. In a mortar and pestle, pound the spices and salt together and add the olive oil. Rub the spiced oil all over the chops. Cover the dish and put it in the fridge for a couple of hours. Bring to room temperature before you want to cook the chops.

Heat two frying pans – each should be able to hold two of the chops – and, when they’re really hot, add the chops. The oil in which they have marinated will still be clinging to them, so you don’t need any more.

Cook the chops on both sides, getting a good colour on them. Hold them on their sides – the fatty bits – so that the fat gets cooked too, then lower the heat and keep cooking on both sides, turning frequently, until the chops are done the way you like them. People often cook chops until they’re too dry. Don’t! Serve the chops with the relish.