Pork Chops with Herbed Lentils and Mustard Sauce

We don’t eat pork chops a lot and when we do we stick to one or two favourites.

Tonight I thought I would try something different and decided on a mustard, cream sauce. We cooked the pork chops first and while they were resting, deglazed the pan with some sherry. Leave to bubble for a few minutes before stirring in some mustard and some double cream. The sauce had a touch of sweetness from the sherry but was balanced by the vinegary mustard. It was a really good contrast to the slight charring on the pork.

In an effort to break away from our usual mainstay of mashed potatoes, I cooked some puy lentils which turned out really well.

75g puy lentils
1 onion, diced
1 stick celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Bay leaf
Rosemary
Thyme
Sage
Salt and pepper
125ml white wine
200 ml chicken stock

Start by covering the lentils in cold water and bringing them to the boil. Rinse and reserve.
In a separate pan, sweat the onion, carrot, celery and garlic with a bay leaf for about five minutes. Add the lentils and herbs and season.
Deglaze the pan with the white wine and leave to bubble for a few minutes.
Add the chicken stock, bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes or until cooked.

The two dishes worked reasonably well together but weren’t a complete match, I think mashed potatoes would have been better but I’m really pleased with how the lentils turned out.