Seared Pork Loin Chops with Roasted Sweet Potato Salad

Prepare Ingredients:

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Zest, quarter and then deseed the lemon. Peel, halve and thinly slice the onion. Halve the sweet potatoes lengthwise, then cut again crosswise. Pick the parsley leaves; discarding stems.

Roast Sweet Potatoes:

Place the sweet potatoes on a lined baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper; toss to coat. Arrange in a single, even layer, with the cut sides down. Roast for about 20 minutes, or until tender when pierced with a fork. Remove from the oven and transfer to a large bowl.

Cook Pork Chops:

Once the sweet potatoes have roasted for about 15 minutes, pat dry pork chops with paper towel; season with salt and pepper on both sides. In a large pan, heat olive oil on medium-high until hot. Add the seasoned pork and cook 3 to 4 minutes per side, or until browned and cooked through. Transfer to a plate, leaving any browned bits in the pan. Loosely cover the cooked pork with foil and set aside to rest for at least 5 minutes.

Dress Sweet Potatoes:

While the pork rests, add the lemon zest (to taste), parsley, as much of the onion as you’d like, and the juice of 2 lemon wedges to the bowl of roasted sweet potatoes. Drizzle with a little olive oil and toss to coat; season with salt and pepper to taste.

Make Pan Sauce:

Heat the pan used for the pork on medium until hot. Add the juice of the remaining 1-2 lemon wedges and ¼ cup of water. Cook 2 to 3 minutes, or until the liquid is reduced by about half, stirring occasionally and scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the butter, stirring occasionally, 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until thoroughly combined. Remove from heat; season with salt and pepper to taste.

You Plate It:

Divide the cooked pork and dressed sweet potatoes between plates. Top each with a few spoonfuls of the pan sauce. Enjoy!