Moroccan-Style Pork with Apple Noodles

I'm sitting here trying to think of how I can fit THIS MUCH awesome into words.

I mean, I can EASILY fit THIS MUCH awesome into my mouth. How-EV-ER, when it comes to typing it down (which sounds weird but, who are we kidding, no one WRITES things down anymore amIright?) I JUST CAN'T DO IT.

I could tell you that my Hubskerdoodle declared it "the best recipe I ever created." OR I could tell you that it's sweet and crunchy (Oh hey, apple noodles) and that it's healthy in a MAJOR way (Paleo friendly FTW!) OR that it's crusted with a smokey-sweet-kinda-spicey rub. Which then gets some face time with a hot pan, and get its caramelization on.

But, I guess I kinda just told you all that anyway now didn't I?

MAYBE I MEANT TO DO THAT.

You'll never know.

So, it's no secret that pork chops with apples are like peanut butter and my face. They just GO together.

I had been eating apples in the form of cheesecake stuffed baked apples for some time, until I got my spiralizer.

You guys. That little contraption is a game changer. It opened my eyes to a world beyond zucchini noodles made on my mandolin.

At first, I started small. Sweet potatoes turned into sweet potato burrito bowls. Nothing too fancy or off the charts Ca-ray-zay.

But, then I decided to get fancy and see what would happen if I spiralized an apple. And, you guys, it was AMAZING.

Immediately, my brain jumped into needing some porky goodness on top of the healthy pile of crunchy goodness that I had stumbled upon.

But, I have those kind of taste buds that don't want bland. They don't want familiar/boring/insert another word for unexciting here. They want flavour POWs to hit them right in their faces.

My peeps, have you ever tried Moroccan food? That cuisine is the ep-I-tome of not-boring-holy-how-is-there-so-much flavour.

Now, I know they don't actually eat pork in Morocco, and I totally respect that. But the flavor profile of many Moroccan spice blends lend themselves perfectly to lean, free range pork like you wouldn't believe.

I knew what needed to be done.

Rubbity rub rub went the cumin, cinnamon and smoked paprika. Sizzley sizzle sizzle went the pork. Sidenote: can you smell that through the SCREEN? SO GOOD.

Then, choppity chop chop went dried fruit (dates and apricots, be still my heart) cilantro and pistachios ß for the extra CRUNCH.

And all of that action-packed nums went on top of the sweetest pile of crunchy, crispy apple noodles that my stomach ever did munch.

And life as we know it was compl-eat.

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Moroccan-Style Pork with Apple Noodles Recipe

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Ingredients

For the Pork:

• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon coconut sugar, or brown sugar
• 1/16 teaspoon allspice
• 2 pork chops, trimmed (8 ounces)
• salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

For the Chutney:

• 1/4 cup dried apricots, diced
• 1/4 cup pitted dates, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup roasted pistachios, roughly chopped
• 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, rougly chopped

For the Apple Noodles:

• 2 large apples, like fuji
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons honey

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 400°F.
2. Mix all the ingredients, up to the pork chops, in a small bowl.
3. Dry off the pork chops and divide the spice rub evenly between them. Rub the spice mixture into each chop, making sure to cover the top, bottom and sides. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
4. Heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Place the pork chops in a cook until they begin to brown and caramelize, about 2-3 minutes. Flip the pork chops over and immediately place them into the oven. Cook until no longer pink, about 7-8 minutes. Once cooked, remove from the oven, cover with tinfoil and let rest for 5 minutes.
5. While the pork cooks, combine all of the chutney ingredients in a small bowl, tossing to mix well. Set aside.
6. Cut each apple in half, remove the core and then spiralize using the 3mm blade on your spiralizer. Place the noodles into a large bowl and toss with cinnamon, ginger and honey.
7. Divide the apple noodles between two plates, top with pork chops and chutney.
8. DEVOUR.

Recommended Equipment

Le Creuset Skillet

Lodge Cast Iron Skillet

Spiralizer Tri-Blade Vegetable Spiral Slicer

Wusthof Santoku Knife - 5 inch

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