Autumnal Feast

I'm a sucker for fall, so ever since the calendar turned to October, I've been dying to make a seasonal feast. The roommates and I were talking about pork chops, and then the Cooking Light October 2008 cover recipe caught my eye, so I decided to recreate Walnut-Crusted Pork Chops with Autumn Vegetable Wild Rice.

Ingredients

Pork:
4 (8-ounce) bone-in center-cut pork chops, trimmed
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup walnuts, finely ground
1 bacon slice
1/4 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

Rice:
Cooking spray
1 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup diced carrot
2 teaspoons diced seeded jalapeño pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 cups finely trimmed chopped Swiss chard
1 cup sliced cremini mushrooms
1 cup chopped peeled Granny Smith apple
2 cups cooked wild rice
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Preparation

1. To prepare pork, place chops in a shallow dish; drizzle evenly with Worcestershire. Combine salt, sage, and black pepper in a small bowl. Reserve 3/4 teaspoon salt mixture. Add walnuts to remaining salt mixture; toss well. Press walnut mixture onto both sides of pork chops. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.

2. Cook bacon slice in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan; crumble. Add pork chops to drippings in pan; cook 1 1/2 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Add 1/4 cup chicken broth to pan. Cover, reduce heat, and cook 6 minutes or until desired degree of doneness. Remove pork from pan.

3. To prepare rice, heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and next 3 ingredients (through garlic) to pan; cover and cook 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in reserved 3/4 teaspoon salt mixture, chard, mushrooms, and apple. Cover and cook 5 minutes or until carrot is tender. Stir in rice and 1/2 cup broth. Bring to a simmer; cook, uncovered, 5 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Stir in bacon. Place 1 cup rice mixture on each of 4 plates; top each serving with 1 pork chop. Drizzle each serving with pan drippings, and sprinkle each with 1 tablespoon parsley.

I actually followed the recipe to the T, and it was delicious! I served it with some mashed sweet potatoes. Just a year ago I didn't really care for sweet potatoes, but I've changed my tune. This was a simple recipe that's mostly sweet with just a bit of salt to balance it out.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes
2 large sweet potatoes
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake sweet potatoes for an hour. While still warm, peel and mash potatoes. Add butter and warmed milk and beat until smooth. Add in brown sugar and salt and serve!