Lowcountry Smothered Pork Chops

Ever since Patrick and I went apple picking back in October I've been wanting to have some pork chops and homemade applesauce. Well Patrick was too busy baking with those apples (pie and strudel) that I wasn't able to make applesauce but how could I complain?! Fortunately he had a few extra apples laying around this week and I snapped them up to make stewed apples (a close second to applesauce). I did a little browsing to find a nice complement to the apples and ended up with this one from Paula Deen. Feel free to visit her website for the recipe. But for convenience here's the recipe with my notes (in blue)!

Low Country Smothered Pork Chops

Ingredients:

4 center-cut pork chops, 1-inch thick
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Ground cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour, spread on a plate
2 medium green bell peppers, stemmed, cored, and membranes removed, cut into strips
2 yellow onions, trimmed, cut lengthwise
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chicken broth
2 to 3 dashes Worcestershire sauce

I only used one pepper and one onion since it was just Patrick and myself. I did however use 4 pork chops so we would have enough for leftovers. There could've been more peppers and onions but I think we were both satisfied with the amount. Also I only used one can of chicken broth which is about 14.5 ounces.

Directions

Trim the excess fat from the chops and season well with salt, pepper, and cayenne. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Lightly roll the chops in flour, shake off the excess, and slip them into the pan. Brown well, about 3 minutes per side, and remove them to a plate.

Browning the pork chops.

While the pork chops brown, make sure Chef Patrick is slicing and chopping all the vegetables. Check out his new knife!

Add the bell peppers and onions, to the skillet, and saute until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about half a minute longer. 

Push the vegetables to the side of the skillet. Add chops to pan and place vegetables on top of pork chops. Pour in the broth and sprinkle with Worcestershire sauce. Cover pan with foil and allow to simmer for 45 minutes or until chops are tender.

For the apples: peel and quarter apples, saute in melted butter over medium heat with cinnamon and sugar until tender!

Served with brown rice and stewed apples!

Recipe Courtesy of Damon Fowler

Servings: 4 servings
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 55 min
Difficulty: Easy