DINNER TIME! Baked Pork Chops

This week, I'm pulling out some pork chops from our freezer. Hmm..fry them? Barbecue? I think I'll bake them, sort of like a home made 'shake 'n bake.'

They're frozen and I want to make them for dinner so I have a quick way to prepare them and defrost the the same time. I'm making some brine, which I'll put in the ziploc bag the chops are in to make them tasty, tendy, juicy, and thawed at the same time.

For the brine, I put half a liter of water into a sauce pan. Two heaping tablespoons of Kosher salt, a teaspoon each of marjoram, terragon, and sage go into the water, which I bring to a boil. When it does boil, I stir it vigorously, let boil for another minute and then remove from heat.

Let that sit for 10 minutes before adding into the bag with the chops. Let that marinate for 4-6 hours.

I have some leftover roasted potatoes from last week's chicken dinner. There's also a zucchini in the fridge that I can use for the side.

I coat a baking pan with olive oil.  The chops go into a plastic bowl where I pour some half and half on them. I sprinkle with black pepper and then bread crumbs. Turn them over and do the same thing.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cook for 30 minutes. Then remove from oven.

Remove the pork chops and put the potatoes on the bottom of the pan (if you're using uncooked potatoes, put them in at the beginning - see last week's recipe on how to prepare them). Put the chops back in on top of the potatoes with the cooked side down.

Dice up the zucchini.

Fill in the spaces in between the chops with the zucchini. Sprinkle some Kosher salt on them. 

Drizzle a little quality olive oil on the zucchini.

Put back in the oven for 25 minutes.

At the end of 25 minutes, increase temperature to 475 and cook for 15 more minutes for browning. After this, you're ready to serve.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

DINNER: Pork Chop 'Alte Heide'

Inspired by a pork Cordon Bleu dish we recently had in Munich, here's another dish I tried to make upon our return.

The Alte Heide is a small, neighborhood cafe and biergarten in Munich's Schwabing district. It also made the best food we had during our stay and the best of that was their pork Cordon bleu.

Similar to chicken Cordon bleu, it's stuffed with cheese and ham, and fried with a breadcrumb crust. I'm using a parmesan crust on mine.

We're cooking five chops, to serve three and have some leftovers for lunch. Scale the recipe up or down as needed

INGREDIENTS

5 boneless pork chops at least 1 inch thick
5 slices prosciutto
10 1" wide slices of Havarti cheese
Shredded parmesan cheese
1 cup chicken broth
1 diced medium onion
1/2 cup white wine
3 tablespoons Kosher salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil.

Heat up chicken broth in bowl, add salt and pepper to make a brine.

Put chops in sealable plastic bowl, cover with brine (above). Seal and put in refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

Drain brine from bowl.

Take pork chops out and slice almost in two so that there are 2 - 1/2 inch slices and put prosciutto and cheese in the middle.

Sprinkle each side with parmesan cheese.

Heat olive oil on high heat in stainless steel pan.

Brown pork chops for 2 minutes on each side. Move pan into 350 degree oven for 8 minutes on each side.

Remove chops and cover with foil. Put pan back on medium heat, add wine.

Use a spatula to scrape up the drippings in the pan.

Add the onions, stir in, and cook another 5 - 10 minutes to reduce a bit.

Serve and ladle sauce over chops.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2016 - All Rights Reserved

This Week's Menu: Pan Fried Pork Chops with Mustard Cream Sauce and Grilled Egg White, Ham, and Cheese Sandwich

Here's a killer pork chop recipe for your Sunday dinner. And you know what? Since the chops were on special at the market, the entire dinner...including the potatoes and asparagus as sides...cost less than four dollars, which made three servings.

Along with that delicious dinner, I've got a protein-rich, diabetic friendly, grilled cheese sandwich which makes a great quick lunch or even a dinner replacement.

Recipes are at the links below.

DINNER: Pan Fried Pork Chops with a Mustard Cream Sauce

LUNCH: Grilled Egg White, Ham, and Cheese Sandwich

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

DINNER: Pan Fried Pork Chops in a Mustard Cream Sauce

Was thinking about what I should cook for dinner this Sunday while shopping in Sprouts. When I saw center-cut, boneless pork chops on sale for $1.79 a pound, my decision was made.

They weren't the best marbled pieces of pig but they'd do, as long as I had a good sauce to go with it. For some reason, I was thinking mustard. How about creamy mustard?  Then it hit me, mustard cream sauce would be just the ticket.

So I pulled out the gas grill, which has a convenient side burner, and the Lodge cast iron skillet. Then I set to it...


INGREDIENTS
3 - 1 inch thick center cut pork chops
3 tablespoons kosher salt 
black pepper
1 teaspoon tarragon
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/3 cup chicken broth
2/3 cup half and half
1/3 cup filtered bacon grease (see below) or melted lard
1 tablespoon lard

Let's start off with the brine. We always brine pork chops. It's especially useful for those chops you get in the store that don't have a good deal of marbling.

1/2 cup of water, 2 1/2 tablespoons of kosher salt, black pepper, tarragon, and white pepper...dissolved in the water.

Put the chops in a sealable bowl, cover with the brine, seal, and store over night in the refrigerator. 

I cooked some bacon for breakfast.  While this was good for the bacon and eggs we had, I really wanted to capture the leftover pork fat for dinner.

After cooking the bacon, I strained into a very small sauce pan.

I put the chicken broth in the pan and brought to a boil.

Then, I add the mustard. 

I didn't have Dijon on the shelf so I used Philippe's hot mustard instead.

Boil for another 2 minutes. Turn down to a low simmer and reduce for 10-15 minutes.

Turn off the heat and add the half and half. If the sauce seems thin, add in all-purpose flour...sparingly...just a little bit at a time, stirring.

When the thickness is good, stop and cover the sauce.

Heat the covered part of the gas grill to 300 degrees (F).

On a hot burner, put the skillet with a tablespoon of lard in it.

Put the chops in the very hot skillet (careful not to burn yourself) and brown for 2-3 minutes on each side.

Cook covered in the grill, in the skillet, for 10 minutes. Turn the chops and cook another 10 minutes.

Cover and rest for 10 minutes.

Served with the mustard cream sauce ladled on top.

Darryl
Copyright 2016 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved

Pan Fried Pork Chops

I cook a lot of Sunday dinners on the barbecue but not all of them. Today, I'll stay in the kitchen to make this entree.

When making pork chops, I prefer to cook them on the stove where I can capture the juices in the pan instead of letting them drop onto the coals of the barbecue. This means I can avoid the bane of pork chops, dry meat.

Like beef, look for good marbling. Pork fat is the key to a tasty, juicy pork chop.  I also have a secret ingredient that you'll need to gather when making breakfast...bacon fat.

INGREDIENTS
3 boneless pork chops, 1 inch thick
2 tablespoons Worcester sauce
2 green onions
1/4 white onion
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 cup bacon fat

I like to start several hours before cooking time. As I said, I have a secret ingredient that delivers great taste and juiciness to our chops. At breakfast, I'll make some bacon and reserved the leftover fat in a small, Pyrex bowl. This I'll set aside for later.

Take one green onion and chop up in a small food processor or dice very finely with a knife.  Put the chops in a sealable plastic bowl. Cover them evenly with the Worcester sauce and green onion. Seal the bowl and put in refrigerator.

When it's time to cook, sprinkle the chops with kosher salt and pepper on both side. Put the white onion and the other green onion in the food processor.

Chop up as fine as you can get them.

Preheat a steel pan (no non-stick) with the olive oil on high. Get it very hot.

Heat up your bacon fat so that it returns to a liquid state. 

Put the chops on the oil, they should sizzle very vigorously. Cover with a lid and cook three minutes. Turn them over and cook another three minutes, covered. This will brown the chops.

Turn the chops over, lower the heat to medium-low. Cook 8 minutes on each side. 

When done, put on a platter and cover loosely with foil.

Turn the heat back up to high on the pan. Splash some red wine vinegar over the cooked on drippings and scrape the stuck on bits with a spatula. Once you've got everything scraped up, put in the onions and bacon fat. 

Stir the onions in vigorously. Let the mixture boil for five minutes on high, lower the flame to low, and stir in the garlic. Let simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.

Plate the chops and pour a few spoonfuls of your deglazed sauce over them and serve.

Leftover rating: 4

Darryl
Copyrght 2015 - Darryl Musick
All Rights Reserved