Pan Fried Pork Chops

 

Who doesn’t love a fried pork chop?? Well, I guess those that don’t eat pork, but everyone else, are you with me?? I love, love pan fried pork chops but don’t really make them often. I’m not sure why, it just doesn’t happen. After making these tonight and remembering how delicious they are, I think things will change around here.  Maybe we will turn into weekly pork chop people. Of course we had to have mashed potatoes to go along with them. Don’t worry, I had a green vegetable to balance my plate like my high school Home Ec teacher taught me. Thanks Mrs. Maxwell. Unfortunately we didn’t have pork chops and applesauce. Hopefully there are some readers out there that got my Brady Bunch reference. Okay, I’ll stop with my 1980s references and get down to pan frying some pork chops!

 

Ingredients:

4 bone in pork chops, not too thick

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon seasoning salt

½ teaspoon pepper

½ cup canola or vegetable oil

1 Tablespoon butter

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Directions:

Combine the dry ingredients in a pan large enough to dredge your pork chops.

 

Salt and pepper both sides of your pork chops. Sorry I didn't put them on a fanc plate for you. I just kept them on the plastic wrap they came out of the freezer in. One might call it lazy blogging, but I call it efficient!

 

Heat oil over medium heat, then add butter. Butter helps the chops to brown (my friend, Ree Drummond taught me that trick)

 

Dredge each pork chop through the flour mixture to ensure each side is evenly coated.

 

When oil is hot, place 2-3 pork chops in at a time and start the browning process. If your chops are the thickness of mine, you’ll need about 4-5 minutes per side. Just make sure no pink juices are oozing from the chop. Once the first batch is done, remove to a plate with paper towel and finish up the batch.

 

How beautiful do these pork chops look? I think they look delicious and am ready to dig in! The hubby was quite pleased with dinner tonight!

Braised Ribs

My friend, Giada, taught me how to make Braised Ribs back when I used to get to watch the Food Network every day. I miss those days. Why do we all have to work anyway?? We’ll ponder that another day. I have made them many times since. This is one of the husbands’ favorite dinners now. He’s always loved Country Style Ribs, but braising them is just the icing on the cake. It takes a lot of time, but it is well worth it. You can use beef short ribs, but using bone in country style ribs is the bomb! I love when your entire dinner is all in one pot too! The broth this creates is awesome so you’ll want to spoon that over the ribs and veggies. Save it, it's Delish!

 

 

Here’s how you can make this delicious dinner:

 

 

Ingredients
 

4-6 Country Style Ribs, bone in

2-3 celery ribs, largely diced

3-4 carrots, largely diced

1 cup chopped tomatoes

1 medium onion

2 cloves garlic

2 Tablespoons tomato paste

red wine (about 1/4-1/2 cup)

2 bay leaves

bunch fresh thyme

1 spring rosemary

1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

About 2 cups chicken stock

Olive oil

 

 

Directions

While you are chopping veggies, brown ribs on stove top in Dutch oven and remove.

Heat about 2 T olive oil in Dutch oven, then add diced celery, carrots, onion, tomatoes and sauté. Add 2 cloves garlic after veggies soften. Stir and add 2 T of tomato paste. Again, the squeeze tube is the best invention ever!

Once veggies have softened, deglaze with red wine, just a bit.  Sprinkle red pepper flakes over veggies, add bay leaves, thyme and rosemary. Add meat back to pot and pour in chicken stock until it is about half way up the meat. Do not cover it totally.

Bring to a simmer on stovetop then cover and put in 350 degree oven. Cook 2 hours with lid on.

Take it out and enjoy one of the best dinners of your life! Yes, it splatters and gets the Dutch oven all dirty, but it sure is worth it! So yummy!

The Perfect Pork Roast (plus a bonus BBQ recipe)

This might look like a tan brick in the photo, but it was super tender and juicy once I cut it up....trust me!

See, I might have a full-time job again, but I can still find time to make great meals.....even if it is in a crockpot! I have always loved my crockpot and the love affair continues. This is honestly one of the best pork roasts you’ll ever put in your mouth. So flavorful and moist. Make it once and you’ll believe me and want to share the recipe with your friends, I did.

Now don’t let the ingredients scare you off. There is coffee and bourbon in the recipe. Yes, it sounds like a strange combination. I don’t drink either, but I put them in the crockpot because I’m afraid to leave anything out and chance losing the delicious flavor. This is such a great recipe and I don’t want to change one thing. I have always loved crockpot cooking and this is a great recipe made just for the crockpot. The best part is that it can be two recipes in one. You can have roast one night and then make BBQ with the left overs. You will also love the BBQ sandwiches. So juicy and tasty. However, if you love the roast too much you might not want to make the BBQ with the remaining at all. I made the roast tonight and my husband doesn’t want me to make BBQ, he wants to have it as roast a few more times. BTW, we’re still debating that point!

Okay, enough chit chat, let’s get started. Here’s what you need:

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds boneless pork roast
• salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 2 cups strong brewed coffee
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons bourbon whiskey (optional)
• 10 cloves garlic (yep, 10 cloves!)
• 3 cups beef broth
• 1 cup water
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

Season the roast with salt and pepper. Place the seasoned roast, coffee, Worcestershire sauce, bourbon whiskey, garlic, beef broth, water, onion, and red pepper flakes in a slow cooker set to LOW. Cook 6 to 8 hours. I cooked mine 8 hours on low and it was perfect. Since I have a job now, I got everything prepared the night before, put the crockpot, with everything in it, in the fridge overnight. How could the roast not be perfect with all that marinating time AND cooking it in the juices??

When roast is fully cooked, transfer to a large cutting board, and save some juice to use later as a nice au jus. Should pork technically have an au jus?? I don’t really know, but it was nice to spoon over the roast when serving. I also put a lot on the left over roast to keep it moist in the fridge.

Now here’s how you get two different meals with the work for one.  Shred the remaining roast into strands using two forks. You can either just heat all of this in the microwave or return meat to the crockpot. Stir in  barbeque sauce, and continue cooking on LOW for 1 to 3 hours. I guarantee you this will be the best BBQ sandwich you’ve ever tasted. It is so moist and delicious! Now I love me some Kraft BBQ sauce so I start with that and step it up a little.

Here’s what I do, it’s not an exact recipe though.

Pour about half the bottle in a bowl and add the following:

splash of lemon juice

about a tablespoon or Worcestershire sauce

squirt of yellow mustard

squirt of ketchup

a little granulated garlic

salt and pepper to taste

Or just use your favorite BBQ sauce as is!

Pour this sauce over pulled pork and stir together. You have just created the BEST BBQ sandwich you’ll ever taste! Yummy!!

If I win the battle to make BBQ this time, I'll post pictures of that soon. Let's just be honest...I WILL post pics of BBQ very soon. :-)

And the BBQ pic is posted! Better late than never!