Glazed pork cutlets with apple & cabbage slaw

Make the slaw first. Slice apples as thinly as possible, dropping them into a bowl with the lemon juice. Toss gently. Trim cabbage, discarding thick stem, and slice leaves very finely. Add to apples. Whisk together extra virgin olive oil, mustard, mayonnaise and 3/4 tsp salt. Pour over cabbage. Drain capers and gherkins and mop dry with paper towels. Chop capers and slice gherkins. Add to cabbage with parsley, red onion and a generous grinding of black pepper. Toss thoroughly, cover and chill.

Preheat oven to 180°C fanbake. Choose a frying pan that can also go in the oven and is big enough to hold all cutlets in one layer. Heat olive oil in pan over medium heat, add cutlets and rosemary and brown quickly until golden on one side. Turn cutlets over, sear briefly, then transfer pan to oven and cook for about 7 minutes, until pork is nearly cooked through but still very juicy and blushed with pink. Season and transfer to a plate.

Pour excess fat from frying pan. Add wine, swirl around to deglaze pan, then let it bubble up for a few minutes. Dish potato mash onto plates and top with cutlets. Pour juices over cutlets and drizzle with a little apple syrup. Serve immediately with the slaw.

Cook's tip A mandoline slicer will make fast work of slicing the cabbage and apples; failing that, a sharp knife! If you don’t have an ovenproof frying pan, use a gratin pan, or brown the cutlets in a frying pan then transfer them to a heated shallow ovenproof dish to finish cooking (allow a few more minutes as a little cooking momentum will be lost while transferring meat to a new dish). The cutlets are great with a mash – either straight potato, potato and fennel, or potato and parsnip.

Article from the April, 2012 issue of Taste magazine .