Pork chops with Italian pickled vegetables and potatoes

Tam West

This is my version of Italian giardiniera, or vinegar pickled vegetables. They are great with barbecued or panfried pork, chicken or beef; with cheese in a sandwich or as part of a salad. They are also good with boiled potatoes and crumbled feta. This makes more than you will need but they will keep for a week in the fridge. Bring to room temperature before serving.

For the pickled vegetables

1 medium	Carrot, peeled and cut into thin sticks
100 g	Zucchini, thinly sliced
1	Capsicum, red, or half a red and half an orange or yellow capsicum, cored, deseeded and sliced thinly (Main)
1 small	Eggplant, thinly sliced, slices halved
1 small	Fennel bulb, coarse outer leaves removed, halved, cored and sliced 0.5cm
100 g	Beans, stalk ends cut off
1 cup	White wine vinegar
1	Bay leaf
2 tsp	Sugar
1	Red chilli, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp	Capers

For the pork chops and potatoes

3 Tbsp	Extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for serving
6	Pork loin chops (Main)
1 small handful	Sage
2 cloves	Garlic, roughly chopped
800 g	Agria potatoes, peeled, sliced 1cm thick (Main)
4 Tbsp	Dijon mustard

Directions

To make the pickled vegetables

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and add the vegetables. Bring back to the boil and boil for 2-3 minutes or until the vegetables have softened a little. Drain well, cool and press them in a sieve with your hands to remove as much moisture as possible without breaking up the vegetables. Put the vegetables into a heatproof bowl and reserve.
2. Put the vinegar, bay leaf, sugar, chilli and capers into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Immediately pour this over the reserved vegetables. Season with a little salt. Cool and reserve.

To make the pork chops and potatoes

1. Heat the oven to 180C.
2. Put the oil, chops, sage leaves and garlic into a large bowl and toss so that everything is evenly distributed.
3. Heat a large frying pan over moderate heat and place the chops side by side. Pour in the oil, sage and garlic and spread over the chops. Pan-fry on both sides for about 15 minutes until well browned and hot.
4. Place in the oven for a further 15 minutes or until the fat on the chops is crisp.
5. Meanwhile steam or boil the potatoes in plenty of salted water until just tender but not collapsing.
6. Serve the chops with the potatoes with some of the pickled vegetables on top. Drizzle the vegetables with a little extra-virgin olive oil and serve the mustard in a small bowl on the side.

More of Ray's recipes using produce from the autumn garden

• Autumn vegetable garden soup
• Roasted vege burgers with prawns and chilli mayo