Sheet-Pan Cumin Pork Chops and Brussels Sprouts

I saw this recipe on the NY Times website, in an article about sheet-pan recipes. I am not a huge fan of the sheet-pan recipe, as often it tastes to me like things could have come out better had they been cooked differently, or at least separately. On the other hand, when Ted is trying to report traffic on the radio from 10 feet away, a sheet-pan meal is a much quieter way of cooking than using a frying pan. So I decided to give this one a try. The picture above is from the website, and to me it looked like you should cook it all on one pan, and also like the pork chops would brown more than they did. But when you read the recipe, it clearly says to use 2 sheet-pans, perhaps because the cooking time might be different for the sprouts vs. the chops.

The cumin pork chops were really tasty, and though they didn’t really brown like they would have in a skillet, they did brown a little bit, and they were juicy inside. That’s a good thing, because I don’t like dry pork chops. I didn’t feel like the sage really added anything. If you love sage, include it, but otherwise I would consider it optional. I intended to include the lemon at the end, but I forgot. I’ll bet it would have been good, though!

Sheet-Pan Cumin Pork Chops and Brussels Sprouts
Ingredients
• ½ tablespoon dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, more as needed
• 1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, more as needed
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes, or to taste
• 2 cloves garlic, grated or minced
• 2 large bone-in pork chops, about 1 1/2 inches thick (about 1 3/4 pounds total)
• 1 pound brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved through the stem
• ¼ cup whole sage leaves
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Lemon wedges, for serving

Preperation
1. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, salt, cumin seeds, ground cumin, black pepper, red-pepper flakes and garlic until mixture resembles wet sand.

2. Smear mixture all over pork and let sit at room temperature for at least 20 minutes, refrigerate, covered, up to 24 hours.

3. Heat oven to 450 degrees. In a bowl, toss brussels sprouts and sage leaves with oil and a large pinch of salt and pepper. Spread out on a quarter-size rimmed baking sheet (or in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish) and place in the oven. Place the pork on a second quarter-size rimmed baking sheet (or use a regular rimmed baking sheet) and place in the oven along with the sprouts.

4. Roast pork and sprouts for 15 minutes. Flip the chops over and give the sprouts a stir, and continue roasting until the pork is cooked through (135 degrees for medium-rare) and the sprouts are browned and tender, 5 to 10 minutes more. Let pork rest 5 minutes before slicing off the bone as you would a steak. Serve together, with lemon wedges.