Pork Chops with Ras el Hanout
Ras el Hanout is a wonderful North African spice blend. The name translates to "head of the shop" meaning the best blend the spice merchant has to offer. It is a very versatile spice blend for a culture of people where vegetables, braised dishes and breads feature highly in their diet. Ras el Hanout is wonderful for them all.
This is a lightly braised dish, done to keep the meat texture from getting stringy. I used a dutch oven, but the dish was originally designed for a tagine. Either will work.
Ingredients:
- 3-4 pork chops
- Ras el Hanout spice to coat both sides
- 2 cups of cherry tomatoes
- 1 large shallot
- 3-4 cloves of garlic
- Single Varietal Olive Oil, Medium or Robust Intensity
- 1 Bunch of fresh spinach
- 1 tsp Dried Turkish Oregano
- Salt & Pepper
Method:
- Coat both sides of your pork shops liberally in Ras el Hanout, ground finely.
- Heat a cast iron pan to medium-high heat then drizzle lightly with Single Varietal Olive oil. Once the oil is shimmering, sear the pork chops on both sides until crisp. You are not cooking them through at this stage, just searing the outside.
- Depending on the size of your pan or chop, you may only want to do 1 at a time to ensure the pan is hot enough to sear, not steam.
- Set the chops aside.
- In a dutch oven over medium heat, coat the bottle with olive oil. Add in the cherry tomatoes, shallots, garlic, Turkish Oregano (or our El Greco spice blend) and salt. Cook until the garlic and onions are fragrant.
- Add the pork over the tomatoes and simmer.
- When the pork is just about ready, lift it out and add the spinach. Replace the pork and cover the pot to quickly cook the spinach.
Serve as-is or add a rice pilaf on the side.
