I went to Croydon’s Surrey Street market yesterday. I tend to go to the market after a meditation session at Croydon’s Buddhist Centre (they do lunchtime sessions on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays open to everyone).

I always come out of the meditation session feeling very relaxed and usually pop in to a charity to shop nearby to see if there are any second hand recipe books I like.  I bought two books yesterday – Nigel Slater’s ‘Real Cooking’ and ‘101 Quick Fix Dishes’ published by Olive Magazine/BBC Books (where I saw this pork chop recipe). Surrey Street Market is always my next stop to stock up on cheap vegetables – everything there is about a third of the price of the supermarket. I love this routine and yesterday it was especially enjoyable because it was so sunny, with bright blue skies. Spring feels like it’s here at last.

I’m trying to use different vegetables in my recipes rather than falling back on my usual options of courgettes and broccoli – so bought some pak choi at the market which I don’t use very often. I paired the pak choi with a pork chop served with a white wine, shallot, mustard and crème fraîche (from the Quick Fixes recipe book).

I’ve adapted the recipe slightly – using a bit more white wine and crème fraîche. I didn’t have shallots so used red onions which I sliced very thinly with a sharp knife into circles (but I think shallots would be better). The quantities here are per person, so multiply as necessary.

Ingredients

• 1 pork chop
• Half a pak choi
• Two shallots or half an onion, sliced thinly
• Half a tablespoon grain mustard
• Half a tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons white wine
• 1 tablespoon crème fraîche
• Olive oil for frying
• Salt and pepper to season

Method

1. Heat a little oil in a pan, season the pork chop and fry for about five minutes on each side and remove (keeping the chop warm). Tip the shallots in to the pan and cook gently until soft.
2. While the shallots are cooking steam the pak choi for about five minutes or until just soft.
3. Add the vinegar to the shallots and cook to reduce, for a few minutes, then add the white and mustard, cook for a few minutes then add the mustard and crème fraîche. Cook on a fairly high heat (so that it bubbles and reduces).  Tip any juices from the pork chop in the pan and stir before pouring over the chop and serving with the pak choi.