I bet it doesn’t feel like the middle of the week does it?  On the last vacation day of the holiday season, Monday, we were all hanging out at home and I decided to make a pot roast but all I had on hand were pork chops.  No big deal right?  Definitely not.  I basically followed the same premise as if it was one big piece of pork and made sure I gave it the attention it deserved and packed it with flavor.

We had purchased some pork shoulder chops on sale last week so I knew this guys would take a lot of time in the oven.  In tougher, often cheaper cuts of meat there is a lot of connective tissue that will only soften and break down as you cook the meat.  This connective tissue is caused by working muscles on the animal.  They key to all this…. Do Not Rush a Pot Roast…. Or even a pork chop roast.

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. Olive oil
• Sea salt
• Black Pepper
• 4 Pork Shoulder chops
• 1 Onion
• 4 Carrots
• 2 Cups chicken stock
• 2 Tbsp. Tomato paste
• Dried Rosemary

Method

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
2. Heat a large pot or Dutch oven over medium high heat.  Add half the olive oil and let it get smoking hot.  Prepare the other ingredients.
3. Salt and pepper the chops thoroughly.
4. Cut  an onion in half and peel it and chunk it up
5. When the pan is hot, drop in the onion and begin to brown it in the pan on all sides, then remove from pan.
6. Next up wash the carrots and cut them up rather large and drop those in the pan and sear for 1-2 minutes.
7. Remove the carrots from the pan and let the pan get really hot again.  Add the second half of the olive oil and then drop the meat in the pan.
8. Sear all the chops on both sides until they start to caramelize.  Remove and set aside with the vegetables.
9. Now with the burner on high, lets deglaze the pan and all the brown crusty bits with the chicken stock and tomato paste.  When the pan is somewhat cleaned and the bits are removed from the bottom of the pan add back the pork, carrots and onions.
10. Sprinkle with the rosemary, cover the lid and move to the oven at 250 degrees F cook for 2-3 hours.
11. Remove from oven and place on the stop.  Crank on high to thicken the sauce.  Serve over some brown rice and love it.
12. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: When cooking with herbs, you can use dry if you do not have fresh especially if you are cooking for a long time.  I prefer to use fresh but just remember, fresh can go in at the very end of the cooking process for a splash of flavor where as dried need to be in for the long haul to get the essence extracted from them.

Ok, so I had a couple of left over pork chops from this dish as neither zesty tikes were into the pork that I slaved over…. So you will never guess what is brewing for Friday’s post.  The labor of love continued and let me tell you, I even impressed myself.  Stay tuned on Friday for a classic dish and have a super hump day.

Take care

zesty

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Happy Friday!  I hope you are having a great day and in the mood for a quick pork dish. You can whip these rosemary mustard pork chops when you are in rush or if you’re really unsure about what to make for dinner.

For this dish I decided to use a simple sauce to enhance the pork flavor.  From there, the pork chops will sit on a large dollop of mashed sweet potatoes.  Can you really beat that?

I started off with a simple sear of the pork chops with a little oil and salt and pepper.  From there I de-glazed the pan with the base of the sauce and then continued to add flavor.  To finish, I jazzed up some sweet potatoes with nutmeg, milk, butter and a dash of brown sugar.  Oh dear  – I love sweet potatoes!!

Ingredients

• 4 Pork chops
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 Tbsp. French’s mustard
• 1 Tbsp. soy sauce
• 1/4 Cup chicken stock
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 Tsp. paprika
• 1 Tbsp. rosemary (dried)
• 1 Tsp. black pepper
• 1 Tsp. salt

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Preheat saute pan/frying pan to medium high heat and dry the pork chops with a paper towel.
3. Combine  soy sauce, mustard, paprika, brown sugar and rosemary in a bowl; mix together.
4. Season pork with salt and pepper.
5. Add pork to pan and begin to sear on one side, about 3-4 minutes.  Once complete on one side, flip and do the same on other side.
6. Remove pork chops and place on plate.
7. De-glaze the pan by adding the chicken stock and scraping all the bits off the bottom of the pan.
8. Add the sauce mixture from step 3 and let thicken for 2 minutes.
9. Add pork back on the pan and place into the oven to finish the cooking process; about 12 minutes.
10. Remove from oven, baste with sauce.



11. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: When trying to caramelize meat and/or fish, it is essential that you pat it dry (with a paper towel) to remove any excess moisture on top of the meat.  This will eliminate the steaming process and let the meat/fish sear and caramelize more effectively.

I thought I would be somewhat balanced and add some green frozen peas to the plating dish along with a huge serving of garlic mashed sweet potatoes.  I hope you enjoy the day and I will see you all Monday.

Question of the day:  What are your Christmas cooking traditions?

Take care

zesty

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I am still in a conference… last day!!  I wanted to re share one of my favorite pork chop recipes I have ever created.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.  ENJOY!

Yesterday was the first time I was unsure about what to post on zesty for todays recipe.  I always have a few options saved from both the weekend and earlier in the week.  However, this time, I wasn’t sure what to do to continue the trend of unique dishes.  That is, the sauteed spinach from Monday, the slow cooked beef on Tuesday and yesterdays little sweet treat in the caramel drizzle ice cream tart.  So with that being said, I thought I would tell you about a pork chop I made.

This really is just a plain old pork chop but the flavor was incredible.  I have not had a pork chop in a long time especially with the bone in but when I saw these little morsels of goodness on sale at the supermarket – I knew they were coming home with zesty.

Pork chops have to be one of the fastest meals to prepare and lately I am all about speed and flavor.  This meal was ready in about 35 minutes.  Have a look and tell me what you think?

Ingredients

• 4 Pork Chops
• 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
• 1 Tsp. Rosemary (Dried)
• 1 Tbsp. Dijon Mustard (Or Prepared Mustard)
• 2 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
• 1 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
• 1/4 Cup Apple Juice
• 3 Dashes of Hot Sauce
• Salt and Pepper

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400 Degrees.



2. Warm saute pan to medium high heat.
3. Add olive oil.
4. Season pork chops with salt and pepper.



5. Add them to pan and cook on one side until they begin to brown and caramelize, then flip.



6. Cooking on the other side the same as step 5, once complete about 5 minutes remove from the pan and set on a plate.
7. De glaze the pan with the apple juice while still on high heat.



8. Combine all the remaining ingredients in a bowl and whisk together.
9. Once the apple juice comes to a boil, add remaining ingredients.
10. Cook for about 2 minutes and then add the pork chops back in the pan.



11. Place pan in the oven for 15 minutes.  The sauce will reduce and thicken with both texture and flavor.
12. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes.



13. ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: The key to big flavor with meat is to let it brown/sear well.  Do not move it in the pan and do not turn it multiple times.  Let the meat caramelize and brown on its own, you will know when to flip the meat.  Use your sense of smell, it will never let you down.

For this dish I prepared some sweet potato fries as a side dish and cooked them off at the same time the pork was in.

I just started them a little earlier in the process.  Sweet potato fries were a great addition to the pork.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty