Dijon Pork Chops

Guys, have you noticed my deep and abiding love for pan sauces yet?  I hope I'm not getting boring with all of these "Sauteed (Something) and Pan Sauce" recipes.  If I am, shout and I will broaden my horizons--Matt would probably thank you.

Start out by melting about 2 tablespoons of butter in your pan.

Salt and pepper the pork chops.  Sear the pork chops for about 4 minutes on each side, then remove them from the pan.

Add minced garlic and scallions to the pan, and allow to cook for about 30 seconds.  In a small bowl, whisk together about 1/4 c. dijon mustard, 1/2 c. chicken broth, and a couple shakes of red wine vinegar.  Add this to the pan, and allow to simmer until reduced slightly.  

Add the pork chops back to the pan, cover, and cook for about 10 minutes.

Sorry, not the best picture, BUT!  This was delicious with wild rice and mixed veggies.  

Drunken Pork Chops & Mushrooms

This is what happens when I don't have much in the fridge other than pork chops, beer and mushrooms.  Our friends brought over a couple beers, and one of them was a Magic Hat Heart of Darkness, which is so heavy and dark that I couldn't really drink it at all.  Turns out, though, it worked perfectly with mushrooms and pork chops.  

To start, sear a couple pork chops seasoned with salt and pepper in an oven-proof skillet.  Once they are beautiful and brown on each side, remove them from the pan.  

Add mushrooms to the pan, and sautee them for a couple minutes, until they, too, are brown and beautiful.

 Add the beer to the pan.  If you can't get your hands on the Magic Hat, you could use Guinness or any other stout with chocolaty undertones.  Add one or two cloves of diced garlic and two tbsp. of brown sugar to the mix.  Add a dash of cinnamon (the cinnamon plays really nicely with the chocolate in this recipe).  Stir it all up, and let it simmer until slightly thickened.  Add the pork chops back to the mix and put it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes to finish cooking the pork chops. 

Remove the pan from the oven, and stir in about 1 tbsp. of butter.  

I served this over wild rice, with a side of roasted broccoli.  

And I did not stand over the pan after I had finished this plate of food and eat the majority of the leftover mushrooms.  I also did not have lunch at 11 AM the following day just because I was so excited to eat this again.  

You can't prove it.

Pineapple Fried Rice and Pork Chops or, "Heaven on Earth"

When I invited my Aunt Nesi over for dinner, I knew I would need something special to serve to her.  I went to her house every Wednesday night while I was in my final semester of college, and she made me incredible meals every time, so I definitely wanted to return the favor.  Thankfully, Publix was having a sale on pork chops, and The Pioneer Woman has this incredible recipe for pork chops with lovely and amazing pan sauce, and pineapple fried rice.  And may I say, I am pretty sure I outdid myself with this one, because it was delish!

The ingredients were pretty standard, but I added a few more veggies just to make it a bit more healthy and colorful.  AND, I got to use my brand new cast iron skillet (a Christmas gift from Abbi), which makes everything better!  You will need the following items: pork chops, 1 chopped onion, frozen peas, 1 red pepper, 1 orange pepper, garlic, eggs, soy sauce, honey, Sriracha (or some other hot sauce), and red wine vinegar.

Oh, and rice.  Because this is a recipe for fried rice.  And pineapple.  Because this is pineapple fried rice.

First and foremost, you'll need to cook your rice, and grill your pineapple.  This is about 3/4 of a cored pineapple, sitting on our lovely new grill.  Grill it over high heat until its got nice little grill marks, then remove, cut into chunks, and set aside.  Cook enough rice to make about 2 cups, then put it in a bowl in the fridge.  Apparently, cold rice soaks up the sauce better when it is being fried up--who knew!?  I used brown rice.

Next, sautee your pork chops in 1 tbsp. butter and 1 tbsp. coconut oil.  Leave those little guys alone until they have nice color and a good crust on the first side, then flip the over and do the same on the other side.  Once the pork chops have good color on each side, add the chopped onion to the pan, and get it down in between the cracks of the chops, so that the onion gets caramelized and soft. 

Once the onions are looking a little wilty and delicious, you'll add the sauce ingredients: 6 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp. honey, 1 tbsp. red wine vinegar, and as much Sriracha as you'd like.  I think I ended up adding about 1 tbsp., but could definitely have done with more--I like the heat!  Let that all simmer for a little bit, until the sauce thickens, then remove the pork chops, onions, and sauce to a bowl.  Let them rest--they've been through a lot.

WITHOUT CLEANING OUT THE PAN, add about 3 minced cloves of garlic, and 2 eggs to the pan.  Scramble the eggs around quickly, then add your veggies of choice (in our case, the red and orange peppers, and peas).  Let them sautee for about a minute, then add the rice and a couple splashes of soy sauce.  Flip the rice around every so often to help it fry. When you feel like you've got about a minute left, add the pineapple to warm up.

Voila!  Put a big huge mound of the rice on a plate, then top with a pork chop, some onions, and the lovely, lovely pan sauce.

It got the seal of approval from Nesi, and I am secretly ecstatic that I have two pork chops leftover!  Would it be weird to have this for breakfast?