Interpretations: Pork Chop with Red Onion Confit

I allowed pork to enter my kitchen, but on the condition though that it go here in the style of fine French food.

Dinner today was an interpretation of one of the recipes in Laura Calder's French Food At Home, which I watch over at Asian Food Network. I found the dish simple and fuss-free with few simple key ingredients that could be found at your local supermarket. Oh, this is the Pork Chop and Red Onion Confit, and the recipe could be found here.

The confit was the first one I made. The trick was to slice the red onion really, really thinly so it resembles noodles and fry it in hot butter seasoned with salt and pepper before splashing it with balsamic vinegar until it gets this deep color. I set it aside and keep it warm.

The chops on the other hand, I made a mistake of choosing chops that were super lean, since I needed a bit of marbling on the fat so that the meat cooks in its own fat. However, a little hot butter was my as i fried it for 5 minutes on each side until the pork cooks through but not too tough. I like pork while it's golden and falls right off the bone. The sugar in the recipe was used to sprinkle each side of the meat as it fries so it comes out in that nice golden color. Then I present it in the plate and top it with confit.

The confit has a strong but sweet flavor which is the perfect accompaniment to the pork chop. I didn't use sauce for this but cook the chop just right and juicy and it would go perfectly with the confit.

As for the salad, since onions fried in rich butter and pork are rich on their own, we needed something light and tangy. The salad was made of parmesan and parsley but since I'm far reach from a grocery, I used another sharp-flavored fresh herb, which was fresh basil and a cheddar slice since my parmesan's the pre-grated one, and I needed something that's sharp.

I'm searching for another recipe to cook the two chops remaining in the ref. I'm sure there's one here somewhere.