Pork Chops with Ancho Chile Rub and Raspberry Glaze...CL Aug 07

[Hammster]

I made this today and it's quite good and easy to make. Easy weeknight dish. The sweetness of the glaze is a nice counterpoint to the spiciness of the rub. I don't use non-stick spray in my non-stick pans so I used about a tsp of canola oil that I then spread around in the pan with a paper towel so it ends up less than the tsp. I used chicken broth instead of beef broth as I had some open in the fridge already.


2 tsp ancho chile powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dried thyme
4 (6 oz) bone-in center-cut pork chops (about 1/2" thick)
Cooking spray
1/4 cup fat-free, less-sodium beef broth
2 tbsp seedless raspberry preserves

Combine first 3 ingredients in a small bowl, stirring well. Rub spice mixture evenly over pork. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add pork to pan, and cook 3 minutes on each side or until desired degree of doneness. Remove from pan and keep warm.
Add broth to pan and cook for 30 seconds, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Increase heat to medium high. Add preserves to pan and cook 1 minute or until slightly thick, stirring constantly with a whisk. Brush pork with glaze.
Yield 4 servings.

[patissac]

Good to see a positive review on these, I thought about making this tomorrow. What kinds of sides did you pair it up with? It says mashed potatoes but I wanted to see what else might be good.

[testkitchen45]

Hammster, I promise not to have as many questions on this recipe as I did on turkeys. Honest. ;)

What's the diff b/w ancho chile powder and regular ol' chili powder? And can you generally substitute boneless pork loin chops for the bone-in variety?

See, only two questions. (I knew I could do it! :) ) Thanks.

[Hammster]

Patissac:
I made a kidney bean, corn, carrot, red bell pepper, celery, green onion and red cabbage salad dressed simply with a sweetened vinagrette with thyme in the vinagrette. The weather was hot and muggy so I didn't want to make any other hot dish.

Testkitchen:
Actually I used boneless chops that we get at Costco. They worked just fine but I had to cook them a bit longer as they are thicker than the 1/2" called for in the recipe. Ancho chile (note the "e" at the end of chile) powder is just ground dried ancho chiles. Chili ( with an "i" at the end) powder is a blend of spices that include chile powder. Ancho chiles taste sort of like a spicy raisin, so the ground form has a similar flavor. If you just want to go for heat, you could substitute nearly any dried ground chile, otherwise it's best to stick with the Ancho.

HTH :)