Pork chop with Sauerkraut
I had a pork chop with mash earlier in the week and had another chop in the fridge, a look in the fridge and an excess of sauerkraut, so an easy choice pork chop with sauerkraut. A dish is common in the south of Germany where they consume a lot of pork and sauerkraut.
I have 3 or 4 large Kilner jars of sauerkraut that I had made for people prior to lock down that is now in the fridge. The fermentation process is drastically reduced when put into the fridge. Sat alongside the sauerkraut are other fermented foods including dill pickles and kimchi. For this dish, it was just sauerkraut that I would be using.
I trimmed the excess fat off the chop and retained it to make crackling with.
In an ovenproof dish, I placed about a cup of sauerkraut, a chopped leek, a large finely sliced onion, half a cup of pearl barley and a chopped up apple. Season with pepper and paprika and added some stock. No need for salt as the sauerkraut has enough saltiness.
placed the chop on top and covered with foil and placed in a preheated oven at 170c (fan) 340f gas mark 3. Cooking time is roughly an hour or until the chop is not pink in the centre. During the cooking, the pearl barley absorbs the sauerkraut juice, stock and the smokey paprika.
Spoon out the pearl barley, sauerkraut and veg, place the chop on top and add some of the cooking juices.
A simple rustic yet nutritious meal pork chop and sauerkraut with pearl barley, a dark German rye is the perfect side dish to go with this.
A simple midweek dish taking minutes to prepare before placing in the oven, a cold German beer would have gone well with this, Warsteiner, Bittburger etc.
