The upside of buying a whole pork loin is having lots and lots of pork chops. The downside of buying a whole pork loin is having lots and lots of pork chops. While there are a million-and-one ways to prepare them, I can get brain dead now and again. Repetition, thy name is Tim.

So… I figure if I’m going to be repetitive, I might as well try and be creatively repetitive. Or something.

The easiest way to make something seem different is put a sauce on it. I know my French cooking. I can make sauces. But this was going to be dinner in 30 minutes, not several days. Besides, I was all out of veal stock and roasted bones…

Necessity is the mother of invention, so, I invented. We had apricot filling left from cookie baking and there is always sambal oelek in the ‘fridge. Pan-seared pork chops with a spicy apricot sauce became dinner. I mix sambal oelek with apricot jam for dipping sauce when I make Chinese food, so I knew the combo would work. I was originally going to add some cooked bacon to it – I had a couple of pieces in the ‘fridge that needed cooking – but I ended up adding them to the broccoli rabe, instead.  Boiled potatoes with butter and parsley finished the plate.

Simple, effective, and on the table in 30 minutes.

My kind of meal.