Apple Fest: Peter Brady's Porkchops

I fear the name of my post really reveals my age. I am sure there are lots of you twenty somethings out there that have no idea who Peter Brady is, much less what he has to do with pork chops.  For those of you readers who are generally in the vicinity of my generation (who enjoyed the Brady Bunch every night in reruns) or of the generation before mine (who enjoyed it in prime time) you may remember the Brady Bunch episode where Peter Brady became famous for utterly the phrase "pork chops and applesauce" with  a funny voice and accent (I believe he was trying to imitate Humphrey Bogart? What was this episode about anyway?)  Text can't do it justice check it out here.  From when I saw that episode as a kid (probably 10 times!) to now, whenever I think about pork chops, I hear Peter Brady's weird voice in my head.  Until recently, I was into pork chops at all.  And still, to be fair, I never order them in a restaurant, never have a real craving for them.  In fact, the only way I ever eat pork chops is prepared as depicted in the photo above - thin porkchops smothered in a sweet and sour apple sauce.  This is my savory contribution to apple fest, boneless pork chops cooked with a shallot and apple pan sauce.  Yum!

Pork Chops with Apples and Shallots  (printable recipe)
This recipe is from The Pioneer Woman.  My only real change was to add a bunch of shallots to the sauce because I thought the recipe as written was too weighted towards sweet to my taste.  The shallots give the sauce a nice onion savory bite to the dish.  This came together really quickly and is a wonderful fall weeknight dinner. I served it with the quinoa salad I will post about shortly, but they would be great with the grits in Ree's post.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 boneless pork chops
3 apples, diced, with peels (I used McIntosh and Grannies)
4 shallots, sliced into thick pieces
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup maple syrup
salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Heat the olive oil and better in a large skillet until the butter melts.
2. Salt and pepper both sides of the pork chops and add to the skillet when the butter is melted.
3. Cook until nicely browned on each side, about 2 minutes a side.
4. Remove from the pan and place on a plate, cover with foil.
5. Add the apples and shallots to the skillet and stir so that they are coated with the oil and butter left in the pan.
6. Add the wine and vinegar and stir, be sure to scrape up any browned bits from the pork on the pan with a whisk or a wooden spoon.
7. Cook this until the liquid is reduced by half, five minutes.
8. Add the maple syrup and some salt and pepper.  Stir to combine.
9. Add the pork chops back into the pan, nestled into the apples.
10. If the apple mixture is dry, add some more wine.
11. Cover the pan and turn heat to low, simmer for twenty minutes.
12. Serve!