Pork Chops with Plums and Chinese Spices

I saw some lovely crimson-fleshed plums the other day which made me think of this recipe from my new Diana Henry cookbook, Cook Simple. I don't buy pork chops very often but the idea of baking them in the oven with the plums really appealed to me, plus I love Chinese five-spice. I used to have to make up my own five-spice powder as it is not available here, however, now I have the real deal thanks to Jen_C who very kindly sent me some in a swap box recently.

This is another one of those recipes that is very simple to put together and lets you get on with preparing something to serve on the side whilst it cooks in the oven. A real boon for when you need to get something on the table that's stress free. So definitely another contender for "Quick Midweek". Also I think it's special enough to serve when having friends over for dinner and something a bit different too. I halved the recipe for just the two of us but used the full amount of orange juice just to make sure there would be enough liquor to coat everything well.

Obviously this was a doddle to put together. You could even prepare the aromatic liquor to pour over the chops earlier in the day and keep it in the fridge. Diana suggests serving this with rice and stirfried greens ... I went along with the rice but cooked some French beans instead as I had some to use up.

I really liked the list of ingredients for the cooking liquor and very soon the spicy aroma wafting from the oven made me hopeful that this dish would live up to all my expectations. And so it did, the meat was succulent and wonderfully flavoured. Nothing dry or chewy about this at all, which can sometimes be the case with pork chops. I must say though these were very nice chops, very lightly marbled with fat, and already looking very tender on the butcher's tray. The Spanish eat a lot of pork and usually it is of a high quality although loin chops can sometimes be too lean I find and therefore a bit dry.

Well this was really delicious, definitely a recipe I would recommend you try. The plums were fabulous, a little unexpected treat on the side of the meat. The only thing I would say is up the orange juice so there is some of the spicy sauce to spoon over the meat when serving instead of a rather meagre amount congealed on the bottom of the pan. Really maximum satisfaction for minimum effort! Edit: I think next time I will cover the pan with foil for the first 25 minutes and so hopefully end up with more of that fantastic sauce.

Pork Chops with Plums and Chinese Spices - Serves 4

450g plums, preferably crimson-fleshed ones
4 x 200g pork chops, bone in and partly trimmed of fat
5 Tbsp runny honey
1 tspn Chinese five-spice powder
1 tspn ground ginger
1 medium red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
juice of 1/2 orange
1 tspn white wine vinegar
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 190ºC. Halve and stone the plums. If they are quite large, cut them into quarters or sixths. Lay the chops in a shallow ovenproof dish and tuck the plums in around them where they can lie in a single layer without overlapping.

Mix all the other ingredients together and pour over the chops and plums, turning everything around to make sure all sides are well coated. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes until cooked through.