Pan-Fried and Roasted Pork Chops with Apricot-Dijon Sauce

I made a mistake when I bought pork-chops for this dish.  It specifically says not to buy thick pork chops, but I did it anyway.  It was a mistake. They would have been awesome, if they had been thinner.  Live and learn.  Sometimes I make mistakes, but hopefully next time, I will remember to buy the thin chops.



Ingredients:
2 large pork loin sirloin or 4 small bone-in pork chops, fat well trimmed
( don't use ultra-thick chops for this recipe) See, she says it right there.
salt and fresh ground black pepper for seasoning pork chops
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup apricot preserves ( use sugar-free for South Beach Diet)
2 Tablespoons dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray baking dish with olive oil or nonstick spray. Trim fat from pork chops (for the South Beach Diet there should not be more than 10 percent fat.) Season pork chops on both sides with salt and fresh ground black pepper.

Heat olive oil in a heavy frying pan, then brown pork chops 3 minutes on each side. Put pork chops in baking dish and put in preheated oven to roast 8-10 minutes, or until internal temperature of the meat reaches 155-160 F when measured with an instant-read meat thermometer. (You'll be cooking the pork chops a bit more in the sauce, so take them out at the lower end of the temperature range.)

While pork chops cook, deglaze the pan with the chicken stock, scraping off any browned bits and cooking until the stock has reduced by about 1/2. Then whisk in the apricot jam and cook 2-3 minutes (the sauce doesn't need to be completely smooth.) Whisk in the dijon mustard.

Put the pork chops into the pan with the sauce and turn them serveral times to coat with sauce, then cook about 2 minutes more. Serve pork chops hot, with the flavorful sauce spooned over.