Mid Winter supper - Brined pork chops and veggies (recipes)

[eleny]

I just finished a culinary mystery novel by Diane Mott Davidson titled Double Shot. It was a good one in her series about a sleuth caterer who lives in Colorado.

One of the recipes in the book calls for brining pork chops before fixing them. I brine chicken and turkey but never chops. So I tried it. They were so tender, I'll never fix them without brining first.

Brine:
5 cups water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup salt
Rinse chops, pat dry and put in the brine overnight in the fridge.
I halved this recipe for two ultra thick pork chops and used a ziplock plastic bag to brine the chops in overnight.

Next day - Drain the chops, rinse them and let them stand in some cold water for 10 minutes. Then pat dry.

Prepare marinade:
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dry thyme
1 teaspoon crushed rosemary
2 garlic cloves
Marinate the chops for 1 hour

Heat the oven to 375 degrees (I used 400 since I live at high altitude)
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a fry pan
Brown chops about 2 minutes or so on each side
Bake in the oven until the meat registers 145 degrees
I used a fry pan that can go into the oven to bake the chops. You can use any baking pan.

Veggies:
Steamed swiss chard

Mashed Turnips
Pressure cooked two really big peeled turnips that were cut into chunks
Drain and put into the food processor (I finally got one!)
1 tablespoon butter
Salt and pepper to taste
I also added some fat free butter flavored powder
About a half cup of dried potato flakes since turnips are so watery
Process until the turnips are smooth and the potato flakes are absorbed

And that was it for tonight. Marinated chops, chard and turnips with a glass of cranberry juice cocktail on the side.

[NMDemDist2]

1. and you say you have no patience

brine overnight, marinate an hour..... sounds like patience to me :D

[eleny]

2. Oh no!

Waiting for the taters to brown while their fragrance wafts out of the oven - that takes patience. Those chops all pink and raw - nah! I just stuck them in the bag last night and forgot about them.

Seriously, though, I'm going to make your taters. Now that I finally got a processor. I played with the shred and slice blades and am in love with the machine. I never had one before as I didn't think I'd use it. This one is out in plain sight. Next time I shop, I'm getting a bag of spuds.

[NMDemDist2]

3. what did you get? details please! n/t

[wildeyed]

4. Ohhhh, I have chops in the freezer.

I will take them out to defrost and do this over the weekend.

They are the thick cut chops. Anyone cook those before? They take a long time to cook, would I be better off slicing them in half for thin cut?

[eleny]

5. You won't need to cut them in half

If you brine them overnight, they'll be so tender and cook quickly using the method I posted. After dinnner, hubby and I talked about how the chops were the tenderest chops we ever had. And it's all because of the brining step.

You can use any marinade you like. Next time, I'm substituting soy sauce for the vinegar and will add a little lemon juice.

After browning them in the fry pan, my thick (almost 2 inche) chops baked in the oven for a short time. I used the stick thermometer to test them and they baked fast. I thought 145 degrees was low for fresh pork. But the centers were cooked through. I guess the marinading helps that, too.

If you do decide to slice them in half, you can still brine them. I was just surprised that my thick ones came out as well as they did. You see, I'm known for my "shoe-leather" chops. :-/