A Chef Keith Floyd Tribute: Pork with an Apple Puree

Sadly, the UK Tv chef Keith Floyd passed away this week.

Floyd began cooking for the British army, and after several years of international chef/owner restaurant experience, moved on to BBC television, beginning with the show “Floyd on Fish” in the 1980’s. Celebrity chef Marco Pierre White said this: “a little piece of Britain has died with Floyd that can never be replaced.”
And words from Chef Heston Blumenthal included:  “I don’t know how he got away with what he did” and that Floyd “redefined cooking programs, and was great fun to watch.”   Read the full tribute from Caterer Search here.

Today our tribute to Chef Keith Floyd is is a video recipe where he prepares and shares  “Pork Normande” aka  “Pork in cider & calvados apple puree”  from his BBC tv show “Floyd on Food”.

Read on for the recipe

Chef Keith Floyd’s recipe, adapted from the video

Pork Normande, aka  “Pork in cider & calvados apple puree”
Ingredients

5-6 Cox’s apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped and 2-3 Cox’s apples left whole (note: Cox apples are found in England, you can read more about them here. We’ve asked a chef friend for an acceptable substitute in the US, and he recommends the “pink lady”, “golden delicious”, or your “favorite baking apple” for Cox apples.)

25g/1oz caster sugar (this is known as “superfine” sugar in the US)
½ lemon, juice only
4 pork chops
25g/1oz of butter, melted
salt and freshly ground black pepper

• Put the cored and peeled apples in a saucepan, add half the caster sugar, the lemon juice and three tablespoons of water.
• Cover with a lid and cook over a medium to low heat for 10-15 minutes until tender, stirring from time to time. The apple sauce can be very chunky or lightly whisked for a smoother finish.
• Pre-heat the grill.
• Brush the pork chops with a little of the melted butter, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
• Put the chops on a grill tray with a rack, and grill for 4-5 minutes on both sides.
• Peel and core the remaining apples. Cut into thin long slices, maintaining the shape of the apple.
• Spread the apple sauce over the chops and arrange the apple slices on top, slightly overlapping as you would for apple tart.
• Brush or drizzle the chops with the remaining melted butter, sprinkling with the
  remaining sugar and return under the grill. Cook for a few minutes and the apples are nicely toasted.  Plate and serve.

Note: The lemon juice can be replaced with a tablespoon or two of Calvados. (Calvados is a French apple Brandy)