The Other White Meat

I have never had good luck when cooking pork (unless it's on the grill). It always comes out dry and tasteless!! Blech!! But pork chops are typically inexpensive and they are often BOGO at Winn Dixie. So, when I got my Everyday Food mag I saw this yummy looking pork chop recipe. Yes, the recipe looked completely unhealthy.. not that I'm a complete health nut (haha!). But, I do try to cook normal well balanced meals. Well, I tried it last night.. and it was so good! The pork chops were not dry and the sauce was yummy! It's a rich meal. I served it with baked potatoes and biscuits which made it even richer. Hey, a stick to your ribs meal is good every once in a while! I couldn't find the recipe online so I'll just type it here. I just wanted to share a good find!



Pork Chops with Bacon and Cabbage (Everyday Food, Sepetember 2009)

2 TBS olive oil

4 bone in pork chops

coarse salt and ground pepper

4 strips of bacon, coarsly chopped

1 medium onion, cut into 1/2 in slices

1 head green cabbage, about 2.5 pounds, cored and cut into 8 wedges

3 TBS flour

3 cups whole milk

1. Preheat oven to 400. Set a large heavy roasting pan across two burners over high heat; add oil and heat. Season pork with salt and pepper; prown on one side, 3 to 5 minutes. Flip and cook 1 minute more. Transfer to plate.

2. Reduce heat to medium. Add bacon; cook until golden, 5 minutes. Add oinion, cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add cabbage, cut side down, and cook until light golden, about 6 minutes. Flip and cook until slightly tender, about 3 minutes. Add flour and stir until coated. Add milk and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then nestle pork chops in sauce. Transfer pan to oven. Bake until pork is cooked through, about 10 minutes.



This is the exact recipe. I did do a few things differently. I do not have a large roasting pan (that woudl make a lovely Christmas gift! Haha!) so I used my huge oven safe skillet. I did the first part of the recipe exactly. I did however only use 1/2 of a head of cabbage and I cut it into 6 wedges. After I added the oinion and cooked it, I got a paper towel and soaked up most of the bacon grease. I just can't bring myself to keep all of that in there! So I added some more olive oil to the pan! It took more than 4 minutes for mine to thicken, probably about 10 and I had to crank the heat up a little. I only let it cook in the oven for 10 minutes (like the recipe says.. I tend to want to over cook things!!) and then I took it out and set it on the stove with the lid while the rest of dinner was cooking. It really was so good! Next time I probably won't serve it with baked potatoes, that was just too much. Maybe another veggie like broccoli or green beans. This meal was pretty inexpensive too. Milk would be the most expensive thing in it. Let me know if you try it!

Anyone out there have any other good pork chop recipes??