Pork Chops and Gravy!

Since moving to Wisconsin, I have seriously learned to cook just about anything because nearly nothing is accessible here as far as food beyond beef and potato is concerned. No, that's an exaggeration. Many ingredients are available, just unfortunately not cooked accordingly. Also, given how my life has changed with our busy professional lives and babies and dogs, it's even trickier trying to make gourmet inspired meals on the cheap quickly. So I think that I may dedicate the next chapter of my blog from this point forward to professional mom-inspired healthy quick meals on a budget. It is my hope to one day have these made into youtube videos or into a book for fun. They recipes are too delicious and awesome not to share. To begin, I will start with tonight's meal.

Pork Chop in Mushroom Gravy, Baked Scalloped Potato and Jullienne Fried Veggies.

10 min prep. 60 min cook time.

Serves 4

4 pieces of boneless pork chops (1/2 - 3/4 inch thick)
kosher salt
crushed black pepper
worchester sauce (3 tablespoon)
extra virgin olive oil
1 cup sliced mushroom of choice
2-3 tbsp flour
1/4 can chicken stock
yellow squash julianne
asparagus
1 small tangerine
5 small yukon gold potato - sliced 1 mm thick.
dried thyme

Slice potatoes and place in small baking dish. Fill with water and soak for 3 min. Dispose of water and season with salt, pepper, dried thyme and olive oil to preference. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 385 F for 60 min.

Julianne veggies. Place on a nonstick frying pan. Sprinkle kosher salt, black pepper, olive oil and juice of half a tangerine (or any kind of sweet citrus). Hold off cooking until the potato is 30 min into cooking.

Marinate pork chops for 30 min with salt, pepper ,dried thyme, and worchester sauce.

When the potato is about 30 min from finishing, beging heating a nonstick frying pan with olive oil. Add pork chops and cook 5 min each side. A little longer if the meat is 1 inch or thicker. After a total of about 10-12 min, take the meat off the pan and set aside. Now throw in the mushroom in the pan used for the meat and saute with little more olive oil. Add the juice of the other tangerine if you like to deglaze the pan.

Meanwhile, start frying the veggies in the other nonstick pan and allow the veggies to char a little per side.

As the mushroom starts to cook all around and brown, sprinkle about 2-3 tbsp flour evenly and mix into the mushroom. Quickly add 1/2 can of chicken stock and mix the floured mushroom into the stock to avoid clumping. Let the sauce cook at a low bubbling boil for about 5 min. Add more stock if necessary to prevent sauce from being too thick.

Meanwhile, stir the veggies to keep from burning too much on any side.

Once the mushroom sauce is done, add the porkchops back into the pan with the sauce and keep warm until the potato is done.

This is a most midwestern inspired dish that has become of my downhome favorite healthy quick gourmet inspired meals. The total cost of this dish for 4 people turns out to be less than $8.00.

Bonapetite and Namaste!