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Roasted Spare Rib Chops with Pears, Onions and Melting Gorgonzola

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Roasted Spare Rib Chops excerpted from Roast Figs Sugar Snow by Diana Henry.

I love meals where everything is roasted together and served in the dish in which it has been cooked. The flavours meld, ingredients such as onions become sweet and slightly charred and there’s hardly any washing up. You don’t need anything more than a few sautéed potatoes and a watercress salad with this. I like spare rib chops – they have such good marbling – but you need to order them ahead from a butcher, or a good online butcher. Those skinny, boneless little chops you can buy in the supermarket are not what you need here. Leave out the cheese if you prefer a less rich dish.

Roasted Spare Rib Chops excerpted from Roast Figs Sugar Snow by Diana Henry.

Roasted Spare Rib Chops with Pears, Onions and Melting Gorgonzola

Diana Henry
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course Dinner, Lunch
Cuisine American
Servings 6 people

Ingredients
  

  • 2 red onions
  • 4 slim pears, such as Conference
  • 6 spare rib pork chops (about 200g/7oz each)
  • 6 rosemary sprigs
  • 6 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • dark brown soft sugar
  • 6 tablespoons tbsp mascarpone
  • 5-1/2 oz (150g) Gorgonzola cheese, or Dolcelatte cheese, cut into big chunks
  • sea salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 220°C fan (450°F), Gas 8.
  • Halve the onions and cut lengthways into large, half moon-shaped wedges. Halve and core the pears. Put the chops, onions, pears and rosemary into 2 roasting tins, so they lie in a single layer, season with salt and pepper and pour on the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Turn everything around to make sure it is well seasoned and lightly coated with the oil and vinegar.
  • Roast in the hot oven for 15 minutes, or 20 minutes for large chops. 
Turn over the chops, pears and onions and reduce the oven temperature 
to 190°C fan (400°F), Gas 6. Make sure the pears are cut side up and sprinkle each one with a little sugar. Roast for another 30 minutes.
  • During the last 15 minutes of cooking time, dot the mascarpone evenly over the top and scatter with the blue cheese. Serve immediately it comes out of the oven.

Notes

Roast Figs Sugar Snow by Diana Henry (© 2023). Photographs by Jason Lowe. Published by Aster, an imprint of Octopus Publishing Group.Recipe reprinted with permission from Roast Figs Sugar Snow by Diana Henry. Published by Aster, an imprint of Octopus Publishing Group, 2023. Photography by Jason Lowe.
Keyword Balsamic vinegar, Diana Henry, Gorgonzola cheese, Pears, Roast Figs Sugar Snow, Rosemary, Spare rib pork chops

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