Friday Night Challenge 6: Minted Madeira Pork Chops

This week's challenge gave me pause: mint. Yes, that ubiquitous little herb brought my thought processes to a temporary halt. Frankly, I just don't care for mint flavors in food. So, I knew my own tastes were going to have to take a back seat on this challenge. 
The ingredients for this week's list were: pork, rice, wine, apples, and--mint. Yikes.
I started thinking about mulling and thought this might be a way to work mint into the recipe. I went looking for some fresh leaves outside, but, after coming to my senses and realizing it was still February--albeit the last day of February--all my perky mint plants were browned and wilted still in hibernation. So back to the herb drawer I went. I did find that I had mint flakes. Apparently at one time I had decided that I would try to get over the mint-meh hump.
I put a cup of Madeira wine into a small sauce pan and mixed with it a teaspoon of mint flakes and a tablespoon of rosemary. I let this combination simmer while I sliced two apples and cored them, leaving the peel to hold their shape. I dropped 1/2 of one of the apples into the simmering mix. Let this simmer for 20 minutes. Put 3 or 4 pork chops and the remainder of the apple slices into a small roaster and pour the mixture over it. Cover and bake in a 325 degree oven for 40 minutes (don't let the pork chops dry out). While the pork chops are baking, prepare some rice (your choice of type). When the rice was just about done, I added it to the roaster and let everything finish together. The blend of the flavors made for a nice well-rounded taste. 
I don't have the same distaste of mint I did before the experiment; the beauty of cooking is just that---constant delightful discovery.