Skillet Apple Pork Chops with Roasted Sweet Potatoes & Zucchini

1. Set the racks to the top and middle positions and heat the oven to 450°F. Wash and dry the produce. Cut the sweet potatoes into ½-inch pieces, toss on a baking sheet with oil, salt and pepper, and roast on the top rack for 12 minutes.
2. While that roasts, halve and core the apple and slice it thinly into half-moons. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Quarter the lemon. Trim the zucchini, halve it lengthwise, then cut crosswise into ½-inch half-moons. Toss on a second baking sheet with oil, salt and pepper, and set aside.
3. Pat the pork dry and season all over. Heat a drizzle of oil in a large pan over medium-high heat, add the pork, and cook until browned and cooked through, 4 to 5 minutes a side. Turn off the heat and move the chops to a plate.
4. Once the sweet potatoes have had their 12 minutes, slide the zucchini sheet onto the middle rack and roast both until browned and tender, another 12 to 15 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, melt 1 tbsp butter in the pork pan over medium-high heat. Add the apple, season, and cook, scraping up the browned bits, until slightly softened, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic for 30 seconds, until fragrant. Pour in ½ cup water, the stock concentrate and 1½ tsp sugar, and cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens and the apple is very soft, 3 to 5 minutes. Season to taste.
6. Off the heat, stir in 1 tbsp butter and a squeeze of lemon. Divide the pork, zucchini and sweet potato between plates, spoon the apple glaze over the pork, and finish the zucchini with a squeeze of lemon.

Tips from the ZestyPlate Kitchen

• Dry the pork and season it generously so it takes on a good brown crust in the pan.
• Pull the chops off the heat just as they finish and let them rest while the sauce reduces; they will stay juicy.
• When building the sauce, scrape up the sticky browned bits in the pan; that is where the flavour sits.
• Cut the vegetables to a similar size so they roast evenly and finish together.