I’d like you to meet Bob. Bob is a small, slender kitchen, with three hopelessly skewed electric burners (they rest at between a 20 and 45 degree angle at any given time; the fourth, and smallest, is thankfully flat). He has an oven, but it’s also terribly small, and terribly inconsistent. He’s got less than two feet of counter, thanks to his sloped sink. He’s a small, short-tempered beast, but I think I’ve grown to love him. But enough about Bob.

I was in Chicago last weekend, and so missed my normal Sunday stop at the Takoma Park Farmer’s Market [side note: If any of you are in Chicago and you like cocktails, do yourself a favor and spend $11 on something from The Violet Hour. Just do it. Trust me, trust me!], which is how I found myself driving to Georgetown on a Wednesday afternoon in an effort to find some produce to accompany the pork chops I purchased nearly a month ago from Smith Meadows Farms.

The question was what to combine with the pork chops and that all depended on what I found when I got to the market. I’m not joking –- there was nothing in my fridge. Since deciding a few months ago that supermarkets were only for emergencies and non-perishables, I've been rather good at buying small quantities of fresh things and being done with them by the next market day. So all I have now is cheese and ten dollars.

Ten bucks in a farmer’s market isn't easy, especially when you have no idea what you're going to cook, so I played it safe. I got four sweet golden delicious apples for $4, a bunch of spring asparagus for $3, and a hunk of cheddar cheese for $3. By the time I got home the pork was ready for its rub and I was stuck with one option...applesauce. Even though my family was never one to like pork chops and applesauce, I did have those apples, but I didn’t want to make just an applesauce. I wanted something brighter.

So while the pork’s rub of kosher salt, cracked black peppercorns, fresh thyme, and olive oil soaked in and oven preheated to 450, I turned to Orangette. The woman behind Orangette publishes a regular flow of delicious French recipes and is known for her phenomenal desserts. After looking at her recipe list, I noticed a link to Bratwurst with Creamy Apply Compote. Ding, ding, ding!

Pork Chops with Creamy Apple Compote and Roasted Spring Asparagus
Compote adapted from Orangette

Ingredients for the apple compote:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 golden delicious apples, sliced (8-10 slices per apple)
1 medium Vidalia onion, quartered and sliced
1 bay leaf – Orangette calls for Turkish bay leaf; if you’re using the regular kind, use more than 1 leaf
A hearty pinch of salt
1 cup dry white wine
2/3 cup table cream
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar (here, substituted with 3/4 tablespoon white sugar)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Coat pork chops with the rub. Heat the oil in your pan until hot but not smoking. Place pork chops in the pan and give them a good sear (a little over a minute on each side). Transfer the chops to a hot pan in the oven (put it in the oven during the sear and it will come up to temperature just fine), and add the butter to the first pan. Adjust the heat to medium-high. When the butter is melted, add the onions, apples, bay leaves, and salt and cook, stirring and shaking the pan regularly, for 5 minutes or so.

Next, add the wine (if the sauce is getting slightly vinegary that's good. The acid is essential to this dish.) Bring the sauce to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 6-8 minutes.

While the sauce is simmering, check the temperature of the pork chops. Depending on their thickness, they should be done. Take them out of the oven and cover with foil.  Also, toss the asparagus with garlic salt and olive oil and place in the oven on a baking sheet to roast during the remaining cooking time.

When the apples are ready (tender, yet solid), remove the lid and increase the heat to reduce the sauce liquid by half. Then add 2/3 of a cup of cream, a packed tablespoon of brown sugar, and at least a tablespoon of cider vinegar (I was out of brown sugar, so substituted about 3/4 of a tablespoon of white sugar and added extra vinegar because my only leftover white wine was not as dry as I wanted). Stir this together and cook until the liquid starts getting thick, about 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat; the residual pan heat will finish thickening the sauce on its own.

All that’s left is to take out the asparagus and assemble the plate. One yummy pork chop, some fresh roasted asparagus, and tons of delicious creamy apple compote spooned on top of and next to the pork. My cupboard may still be bare, but damn if dinner that night wasn’t delicious!