Quick and Easy Dinner Recipes: Pan-Fried Pork and Onions

Dinnertime around the house is an absolute pain. The cost of decent food is way too damn high, the amount of time you need to defrost and prep a whole meal means you’ve got to have a plan implemented the night before, and then there’s scheduling to consider. There’s little point in spending the whole day cooking if the breadwinners never know exactly when they’ll be let off work. Fewer things are more demoralizing than coming home to a cold dinner.

Nevertheless, don’t lose hope and pop in a microwave dinner. If you’re going to die of a wheezing heart attack at age 50, you might as well actually enjoy the food you’ve eaten to get you there. That’s where I come in. I am in no way a health nut. If you can’t stand the idea of using real butter in a meal, if you actually buy those spray-on salad dressings because normal salad dressing is just too high in calories, get out. This article and most that follow are intended for the people who understand that a life ended at 50 with every single day thoroughly enjoyed is infinitely more rewarding than one ended at 200 and on a constant diet. Life ends anyway, people. Live instead of just existing. And in that vein, here’s a quick and easy recipe for pan-fried pork chops that’s served the family in good stead for more than a decade now. It’s cheap, takes a little more than half an hour to prepare, fills you up, and works great for leftovers.

Pan-Fried Pork Chops and Onions

4 servings

INGREDIENTS

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 4 pork chops (bone-in or butterfly cut)
• 1 large Vidalia sweet onion
• ½ cup wine (white, red, or sherry)
• 2 teaspoons Cavender’s Greek Seasoning
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 pork bullion cube and 2 cups water / 2 cups pork broth
• 1 ½ cups water
• 1 cup short-grain rice
• Worcester sauce as needed
• 1 4.oz can sliced mushrooms
• ¼ cup slivered almonds

METHOD

1. Place rice in large pot, fill with water and agitate by hand. The water will take on a milky color. Drain the rice and repeat washing it until water comes away clear. Once thoroughly drained, add 1 ½ cups water and place on stovetop burner on high heat. The washing process will minimize the amount of rice that sticks to the pot when cooking.
2. Place butter in electric skillet on medium-low heat. A frying pan with a cover will work just as well, provided the pan is large enough to accommodate all the pork chops simultaneously. Add canola oil. This will help keep the butter from burning later.
3. Combine Greek seasoning and sugar and rub it over both sides of the pork chops. Set pork chops aside.
4. Peel outer layer of onion. Cut off roots and top. Dig out the core with a sharp knife and throw all scraps away. Cut the onion into rings slightly less than ¼ inch in width and place them in the skillet.
5. When rice begins to boil, reduce burner to low heat, stir once to keep the rice from sticking to the pot, add the slivered almonds, and cover to simmer for 30 minutes.
6. Cook the onions on both sides just short of the point where they lose their shape. They should begin to yellow and will release a small amount of fluid at this point, but are overdone if they become translucent.
7. Add pork chops to the skillet, pushing the onions to the side. The cooking time will vary dependent on the width of the pork chops, so cutting into one to ensure the meat is white all the way through will likely be necessary. Outwardly, they will be a golden brown and almost black along the bones.
8. Once the pork chops are cooked, reduce heat to low, place onions on top of the chops to infuse the flavor into the meat, and pour in wine before covering. The type of wine will alter the flavor. If using a sherry, consider adding a small amount of cream to complement the thick flavor and texture it will create. Red wine creates a deep, fruity flavor with a vinaigrette aftertaste while a white wine creates a crisper, dry flavor with a smoother finish.
9. Either add the pork broth to the skillet or crush the bullion cubes, whisk into water, and microwave 30 seconds to create your own broth. Simmer the mixture with the pork chops until it begins to condense.
10. While the pork chops are simmering, drain the can of sliced mushrooms and place into a dry pan preheated on medium-high heat. Add Worcester sauce at the same rate which it burns off for 5 minutes, flipping the mushrooms frequently. The mushrooms should be blackened and infused with the flavor of the sauce. Note that they will burn if you skimp on the sauce, so make sure to keep the bottle handy.
11. Once blackened, remove the mushrooms from the burner. Dish up the pork chops and onions with a side of rice. Make sure to spoon plenty of sauce from the skillet onto the rice and then top with the sautéed mushrooms. Serve immediately for best flavor.