Sept 27-28 Braised Pork Chops

Sept 27     Braised Pork Chops with mashed potatoes
Sept 28     Wing night with The Neighbours

You know, we had a few cold days and I started to crave mashed potatoes and stew and sauce and gravy and all of those great comfort foods of winter. I put away my short skirts and shorts and started wearing pants and cute little sweaters and jackets and jaunty scarves. Well, I am sitting here, sweating my butt off because it is muggy and humid and I really should be wearing shorts and flip flops and grilling squid but all I can think of are those comfort foods so hot September weather be damned!
We picked up a couple of marinated big, boneless pork chops from Shack's favourite butcher (there are only a couple of places where I will buy pre marinated meat and to be honest, I don't even know what the marinade was) but this dish would work with plain pork chops, seasoned with salt and pepper or any savoury spices you choose to use. Actually, the best thing about braising meat this way is that you can pretty much use your imagination. You can sub in part or all of the stock for beer, or white wine, or do half stock, half port. You can use heavy cream or evaporated milk like I did. You can add whatever herb you have laying around that you like. It's a no reEater's dream dish because I could make it every week from now until the end of the year and change it every single time.

Braised Pork Chops

Serves 2-3

2 tbls olive oil
1 shallot, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 boneless centre cut pork chops, about 2" thick
kosher salt and pepper (mine were pre marinated so I skipped this step)
3/4 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 tbls grainy mustard
1 tbls chimichurri compound butter (or just plain old butter )
chopped italian parsley for garnish if you like

heat pan over med heat. Add the olive oil and sauté the shallots for a few minutes before adding the garlic. Saute for another minute or so. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper and add to the pan, browning well on both sides. Add the chicken stock and cover the pan, lower the heat just a bit and  cook for about 20-25  minutes.
After that time (don't get too stressed about it because the pork is cooking in liquid you can't really overcook it or dry it out so an extra 5 or 10 minutes won't hurt), take off the lid and remove the chops and set aside. Add the evaporated milk, grainy mustard and bring to a light simmer for a minute. Right before you are going to serve it, whisk in the cold butter and plate it up. Put a pork chop on top of some nice, delicious mashed potatoes and spoon a bunch of that lovely, creamy sauce over top.