Thursday, March 6, 2008

Smothered Pork Chops

As promised, here's a fast, easy, delicious and healthy dinner for after work. Eat your heart out Rachel Ray ... I can cook my dinner in 20 minutes or less!! And did I mention they're mouth-watering delicious?!??!

A few caveats:
  • I don't measure, so don't be alarmed by my guesstimates. This recipe is nearly impossible to ruin.
  • I'm also not a recipe writer, so I've added commentary to explain what I do. It doesn't read like a normal recipe -- then again, I'm rarely normal, so that shouldn't be surprising.
  • You can make as many pork chops as you want/need. Increase or decrease veggies depending on how much you like on top of your pork chop.
Smothered Pork Chops

Boneless center-cut pork chops (meat fat grosses me out, so I buy the ones that are trimmed)
Salt n pepa (if you have McCormick's Garlic & Herb grilling rub, that's works nicely on these)

olive oil (1-2 tsps.)
1 large onion, sliced
1 red pepper, cut into slices (my cuts looks like a wide julienne)
1 clove minced garlic
1 big squirt of deli mustard (~2 tsps)
1/2 - 1 cup chicken broth
1 little blob of brown sugar (~1-2 tsps)
dash of curry powder (~1/4 tsp)

Preheat broiler.

While broiler is heating cut onion, pepper, and mince the garlic. Bring saute pan to medium heat, then drizzle just a little bit of olive oil in the pan. (If you use a nonstick pan, you don't need much olive oil at all -- maybe a scant 2 tsps.) Toss in the onion, pepper and garlic. Stir to coat the vegs with oil. Cook 2-3 mins, then add enough chicken broth to cover the bottom of the pan. Stir.

Salt n pepa your pork chops, then broil for 8 minutes.

When broth evaporates from onions and peppers, add a little more. This time stir in the mustard, brown sugar, and curry powder with the broth. (Note: if these ingredients freak you out you can skip them, but I promise it's not as gross as it sounds. It's a very tasty blend of slightly sweet and savory, and the curry is not hot.) Cover and cook until pork chop timer goes off.

Turn your porn chops over and cook for another 4 minutes.

Stir the onions/pepper. Cook uncovered for the remainder of the time. If they look like they're sticking, add just a little broth. If they're too soupy, turn up the heat to make the broth evaporate .... you want them to look carmelized.

When the timer's done, dinner's ready! Serve your pork chops topped with the onion/pepper mixture. My favorite sides for this dish are sweet potatoes and applesauce (of course ... thank you Peter Brady!). You can cut a sweet potato into manageable pieces (about the size of a lime), prick with a fork and cook in the microwave for 12 mins to speed the process. If you put them in right after you put the pork chops in the oven, everything will be timed perfectly.

As my friends, The Johns, say: "Enchoy!" Let me know how it works out if you try it.

P.S. - Also let me know if the instructions didn't work for you. I need to know so I can fix it. I don't wanna be giving out stinky recipes, ya know!?!?!?!

4 comments:

Los said...

We have some pork chops - maybe we'll give this a whirl!

Cary McNeal said...

YUMMMMMMMMM

I'm all about the "other white meat"

I gwana try this

schue said...

I see you made a typo that says "porn chops". That's something los and I will Enchoy!

Shelley Jaffe said...

Lisha, Lisha, Lisha - Pork chops and applesauce - yet another hilarious Bradyism - love it! Oh, and the recipe sounds pretty nummy too. Thanks fer sharin'.