Previous Recipies from the In My Kitchen Series
PORK CHOPS AND POTATOES
It doesn’t get much heartier than this
By Robert Wallack
Try as I may to do otherwise, this time of year has me craving for good, sturdy fare sans the frills and the fussiness. The short days and long, cold nights stir something in me to bring out the Dutch oven for long, slow meat braises that fill the house with the promising aroma of something savory and soothing.
While beef is often the choice for the pot, there are times when I’m hankering a taste that is more rustic and robust; more of the country and not of the city diner. For those times I turn to a recipe learned long ago from cookbook author Elizabeth David, who demystified French provincial cooking for millions around the world. In David’s classic dish, pork chops are paired with potatoes and onions, a few rashers of bacon and a splash of white wine for a long, slow stay in the oven while you tend to other matters.
Come suppertime, whenever you chose because this dish holds in the oven for hours, you’ll be treated to fall-apart tender meat redolent with a smoky flavor. But the real star of the show are the potatoes, enriched with the drippings from the chops and flavored with the wine and the onions. The meat is almost an amendment.
Be forewarned; this is one hearty dish. After all, it’s meat and potatoes. And bacon. It’s not for the faint of heart. But the steam off a heaping plateful sure helps lift the spirits when the wind’s howling and the thermometer is plummeting.
The one concession I make to gussy up this dish in any way is to garnish it with a handful of chopped fresh parsley. Pork and potatoes, though certainly filling, don’t offer much color on the plate. And since we eat with our eyes as well as our mouths, the extra effort is worth the added visual appeal. I also like to serve this dish accompanied with mint jelly, much in the traditional way that mint jelly is served with roast lamb; it adds another range of flavor that helps cut the richness of the pork.
PORK CHOPS AND POTATOES
Ingredients
4 pork chops 1-inch thick
6 large russet potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/8-inch thick
1 medium onion diced
4 strips thick-cut bacon
2 medium garlic cloves
1 Tbs. canola oil
1 Tbs. dried rosemary
11/4 cups white wine
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh parsley chopped for garnish
Any cut of pork chop will do for this recipe, as long as they’re cut 1-inch thick. I tend to use rib chops if they are available. Also, avoid bacon that is maple flavored. The artificial flavoring that is used is too cloying and will overwhelm the dish. Any naturally-smoked bacon is ideal.
- Pre-heat oven to 275 degrees and place rack in center of oven. Pat dry pork chops with paper towel and season with salt and freshly-ground black pepper.
- Peel garlic cloves, slice in half lengthwise. Make a small incision near the bone of each pork chop and insert piece of garlic.
- Heat 12-inch heavy bottomed skillet over medium high heat and add oil. Sear pork chops for 3-4 minutes on each side to brown and transfer to a plate. Remove pan from heat and add wine to pan, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom and set aside.
- Line the bottom of 5- to 8-quart Dutch oven with a layer of half the sliced potatoes. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with half the chopped onion. Place chops on top of potatoes in a single layer. Make another layer of potatoes on top of the chops and sprinkle with the remaining onions. Season with salt and pepper. Lay bacon strips in single layer across the potatoes. Pour wine from skillet on top, seal the Dutch oven with a large sheet of aluminum foil, and place the lid on tightly.
- Cook in a 275 degree oven for 4 hours; check after 21/2 hours to make sure oven isn’t cooking too quickly. Add a little hot water if chops appear to be drying out.
To serve, place one pork chop on a warm plate accompanied with a big serving of potatoes and a strip of bacon. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and serve with mint jelly on the side. Makes four servings.
Robert Wallack is a food writer and professional chef who offers private and group cooking lessons at Three Apple Farm in Mount Vernon. He can be reached by email at rwallack@roadrunner.com