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Posts Tagged ‘herb sauce’

Butterflied pork chop (with optional herb topping)

Posted in Food, other sides to this life, Recipes, tagged , , , , , , on July 6, 2012| 4 Comments »

I couldn’t think of the French word for “butterfly” at Monsieur Fraise’s, our Lautrec butcher, the other day.  The word was as elusive as the insect. Pamplemousse kept fluttering around my mind, which means grapefruit!

Papillon is the word!

When I tried to demonstrate with my hands, starting them in the praying position then opening out like a butterfly, the butcher looked flummoxed.

I don’t blame him.

The idea of slicing a pork chop almost in half horizontally was new to me when I read about it recently in the Food Section of The New York Times.

After more elaborate miming, he understood–and was game to have a go.

  • He carefully cut round the bone, freeing up the meat.

(Meredith’s photos below show me having a go….)

  • With his left hand holding the boneless fillet down, he sliced into the meat with a sharp knife working it through to leave a quarter of an inch uncut.
  • He folded back the two halves–still connected–to reveal the “butterfly”.
Below is the professional’s effort.  (Monsieur Fraise gets the Gold Medal I’d say!)
The advantage–apart from making a single chop go further–is that it cooks quickly–three minutes each side–retaining a juiciness that sometimes escapes when cooking pork longer.

Meredith and I tried out the herb topping (suggested by The New York Times). It looks good and is tasty–but leave it off if you like.

I enjoyed a piece of the chop–plain–the other evening with some slices of tomato dressed with olive oil and salt. I didn’t miss the topping.

for 2

1 thickly cut pork loin chop–butterflied

1 tblsp olive oil

salt and pepper

for the herb sauce

3 tblsps parsley

2 tblsps mint

1 tblsp chives

1 clove of garlic–sliced finely

1 tblsp–lemon juice

4 tblsps–olive oil

salt and pepper

  • Pile the herbs together and chop them finely.
  • Season to taste.
  • Add the lemon juice.
  • Stir in the olive oil.

for the pork

  • Season the chop well with salt and pepper.
  • Heat the tablespoon of oil in a sauté pan to hot and slip in the chop.
  • Turn the heat down to medium and leave the chop to cook for 3 minutes.
  • Turn it over and cook for a further 3 minutes–(the cooking time depends on the thickness of the butterflied chop. The juices should not run pink.)
  • (If you are using the topping, spread some over the chop at this point).

  • Let it rest on a serving plate–covered with foil–for 5 minutes before slicing and sharing it.

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