Last night’s planned meal was a pork chop dinner. I was planning to roast up a butternut squash, and I thought pork chops would be the ideal accompaniment for the squash. I picked up my chops from the grocery store, but at the time, I really gave no thought to how I might prepare them. Later at home though, I began musing how best to prepare pork chops that would keep them tender and moist. Simply baking them would dry them out, so that was out. Grilling them, while delicious, was not something I desired to be doing on a thirty-degree day, so it was determined that the best solution would be a braise.
After a quick perusal through the pantry, I confirmed that I had the necessary ingredients to head south with my dinner and decided on a Creole Inspired Pork Chop. I have a picture of how my ingredient list started, but shortly after I took this photo, I started getting out more and more, so while I am going to share the photo, it’s really not representative of EVERYTHING you need to make this dish.
In the photo you can see my pork chops, two celery stalks, one onion, black pepper, garlic powder and a can of RedGold Petite Diced Tomatoes. Missing from the photo is some all-purpose flour, vegetable oil, sea salt, a few thyme sprigs, Cajun seasoning, water and Worcestershire sauce. Also completely missing is a green bell pepper. I didn’t have one, and I wish I would have, because I think that would have really completed the dish. In basic cooking you have your trinity of vegetables- carrots, celery and onion. In creole style cooking, they take out the carrots and use bell pepper instead. Give dishes a completely different, yet delicious flavor. So if you have a bell pepper on hand, add that in.
The recipe was easy enough to put together, but you do need some time for the pork to braise- a good hour on the stovetop, so plan accordingly. I started by heating up a tablespoon or so of oil in a large pan, and then I seasoned a half-cup of flour with 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt, 1/4 teaspoon of Cajun seasoning, a grind of black pepper and 1/8 of a teaspoon of garlic powder. I should note that I was making this dish with my kids in mind, and I knew I had to keep the Cajun seasoning on the low side or it would have too much heat for them. Had I been making this for my dad, I would have amped it up to a full teaspoon- so use the quantity of Cajun seasoning that your family would prefer.
Next, I dipped my pork chops in the flour and then dropped them in the hot oil to brown. I had to do this step in two batches to give the pork plenty of room to brown evenly. Five minutes per side, and then the chops were moved to a pie plate while I assembled the braising liquid.
My onion and celery were then dropped right into the pan which still had a bit of oil and all these brown floury bits from the chops. Oh, did that smell great the instant they hit the pan! I dashed outside for a few thyme sprigs and added that to the veggies as they cooked up, and then added a pinch of salt and pepper to them as well. Season as I go and all that. I cooked the vegetables until they had just started to brown around the edges- maybe another five minutes, and then I poured the can of petite diced tomatoes in the pan.
I love RedGold’s Petite Diced Tomatoes. Do you know why? Because when you make a dish like this with regular diced tomatoes, you end up with large chunks of tomato in your sauce, and not near as many of them. The petite diced tomatoes are much smaller, and so they evenly disperse in the sauce. At the end, when you serve up the pork chop with the sauce, you have this lovely amalgamation of celery, onion and petite diced tomato that looks so much more appealing than if it had larger (and fewer) chunks of tomato in it. I think I probably use the Petite Diced Tomatoes more than the regular ones, because I far prefer the smaller bites of diced tomato in my dishes.
Anyway. Back to my sauce. Once the tomatoes were in, I also added about 1/2 cup of water, as well as one full tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder, and a heaping 1/4 teaspoon of Cajun seasoning. Once again, I really wanted to dump a full teaspoon of Cajun seasoning into my braising liquid, but I retrained myself, because I really wanted my kids to eat dinner last night. So feel free to add more.
My liquid was ready, and I slid the browned pork chops back into the pan. They were not all covered by liquid- don’t worry about that, they’ll be just fine. I brought the pan back to a gentle boil, added the lid, and turned it down so that it would simmer for about an hour. Two or three times during that hour I came back to the pan and rearranged the pork so they all got even time submerged in the braising liquid. When all was said and done, I had a delicious Creole Inspired Smothered Pork Chop dish that turned out even better than I expected. I hadn’t prepared for so much sauce though, and was thankful that I had some leftover rice from the day before in the fridge. A quick nuke of that and we had a little bit of something on the plate to soak up the delicious sauce.
Creole Inspired Smothered Pork Chop
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil 6 bone-in pork chops 1/2 cup all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 1/4 teaspoon Cajun seasoning 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder a few grinds of fresh black pepper 1 medium onion, chopped 2 stalks of celery, chopped 3 thyme sprigs pinch of salt and pepper 1 (14.5 ounce) can RedGold Petite Diced Tomatoes 1/2 cup water 1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4-1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning (adjust to suit your taste)Directions:
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
In a pie plate, combine the flour, sea salt, Cajun seasoning, black pepper and garlic powder. Mix well. Dip the pork chops in the flour so both sides are coated and place a few of the chops in the pan to brown.
Cook until nicely browned on both sides- approximately five minutes per side. Cook them in batches so they cook evenly. Set the browned chops on a pie plate to rest while preparing the rest of the sauce.
Add the onion and celery to the pan. Cook for a minute or two, and then add the thyme sprigs as well as a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until the vegetables just begin to brown around the edges- about five minutes. Add the tomatoes, water, Worcestershire and remaining garlic powder and Cajun seasoning. Stir well to combine, and then slide the pork chops into the liquid. It’s okay if they are not all covered by the sauce.
Bring the mixture to a boil, then add a lid and turn the heat down to simmer. Simmer for about one hour, or until the chops are nice and tender and almost falling off the bone. Two or three times during cooking, rearrange the chops so they all cook evenly. Serve the pork chops ad sauce over hot cooked rice or noodles.