Green Chile Puttanesca Pork Chops

Ingredients

• 45 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 60 ml lemon juice
• 4 pork rib chops (about 3cm thick)s, bone-in, well-marbled
• black pepper
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced into rings
• 8 cloves, crushed
• 60 g butter, cut into pieces
• 120 g olive, like castelvetrano
• 30 ml capers, drained
• 60 ml dill, halved or sliced
• 225 g plain flour
• Crusty sourdough bread, to serve
• Dressed green salad, to serve

Method

1. Spread the flour in a shallow dish and season generously with salt and black pepper — this is your first seasoning chance, so don't be shy.
2. Pat the pork chops bone-dry with kitchen paper. Water means steam, and steam means no crust. Season the chops well on both sides, then dredge lightly in the flour, shaking off the excess so you get a thin coat, not a cake.
3. Warm 30 ml of olive oil in a large stainless or cast-iron pan over medium-high heat until it shimmers and ripples. A non-stick pan won't give you the brown stuck bits you need for the sauce.
4. Brown the chops in two batches — crowd the pan and they steam instead of sear. Lay them away from you, leave them alone for about 5 minutes until deeply golden and crusted, then flip and give the second side 2 minutes more. Transfer to a plate; they'll finish in the sauce.
5. Turn the heat down to medium and add the remaining 15 ml of olive oil. Stir in the shallot and crushed garlic and cook for 3–4 minutes until softened and just catching gold at the edges. Watch the garlic — if it goes past pale gold the whole sauce turns bitter.
6. Sprinkle in a tablespoon of the seasoned flour and stir continuously for about a minute. You're toasting the raw edge out of it so the sauce doesn't taste pasty.
7. Tip in the olives, capers and 240 ml of water, scraping the base hard with a wooden spoon to lift every brown bit stuck to the pan — that fond is the backbone of the sauce. Let it bubble and thicken for about 2 minutes.
8. Pour in the lemon juice, then drop the butter in piece by piece, swirling the pan rather than stirring. The sauce should turn glossy and emulsified, not oily.
9. Taste it. Adjust with salt, more lemon juice, or a splash of caper brine if it needs sharpening — taste, season, taste again. Now is the moment, not at the table.
10. Slide the chops back into the pan with any resting juices, drop the heat to medium-low, and spoon the sauce over them for 3–4 minutes until they're heated through and just cooked — pull at 62°C internal and they'll carry up to 65°C while you plate.
11. Lift the chops onto a warm serving dish, spoon the briny green sauce generously over the top, scatter with the fresh dill, and tuck the lemon wedges alongside for squeezing at the table.