Marta On A Mission: Kitchen

Good Monday morning everyone. Why the question marks you ask? Well I have never been clear on the whole dressing versus stuffing thing. I'm sharing an awesome pork chop recipe and people I have spoken to want to call it pork chops and stuffing, probably because of the cubed bread. But here in the South we don't have stuffing, we have dressing. Rice and cornbread are the two favorites, but I am sure there are countless fancy recipes. As far as I can tell I have never seen it stuffed into anything. So as not to start and North/South debate I am going to call this one Pork Chops & Smothered Croutons.

I made the most amazing pork chops for dinner last night, and I can’t tell you how happy the hubby was when I told him I needed to make one of his favorite meals for a post. I’m not saying there was a happy dance but there may have been a little shaking in the hips.

My mother made this for me for the first time in my thirties, and she swore up and down she had made it before. I assured her I would have remembered something as scrumptious as this meal. She was kind enough to talk me through it and I have been perfecting this one ever since.

Forgive me if these are not exact measurements on this one, it’s one of those things you are going to have to feel your way through. Here’s what you need:

4 Pork Chops, bone in, thick cut
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
4 Slices White Bread
3-4 Tbls of Butter
Poultry Seasoning
1 Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup

Preheat the oven to 350⁰. Begin by patting dry your pork chops and seasoning both sides with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder. Preheat a pan on medium-high then drizzle and swirl the olive oil to coat the bottom. Brown your pork chops on both sides.

I sometimes put a lid on mine to keep them from drying out. You’ll notice that the pork chop at the top has curled as the fat cooks on the edges. When this happens I snip the edge with my kitchen scissors to keep it nice and flat and cook evenly. (This is a trick I learned eating fried bologna sandwiches as a kid.) Once they are browned remove them from the pan and place them in a baking dish.

While the pork chops are browning I pour the can of soup in a bowl, and I used a serrated knife to cut my bread into cubes. I also cut a few pats of butter.

Remove the pork chops from the pan, and deglaze the pan with a half a can of water, and scrape the bottom with a spatula. Pour this liquid in your soup bowl and whisk together. This give the sauce amazing flavor.

Now place 3-4 tablespoons of butter in the pan and let start to melt. Add the bread cubes and season them with poultry seasoning. I try and distribute the poultry seasoning evenly, but I am careful not to over season. Poultry seasoning can be very overpowering so use it sparingly, every piece does not need to be covered.

Keep turning the bread gently in the pan until it is toasted. Pile the bread onto the pork chops and cover with the soup mixture.

Then put in the oven for 20-30 minutes. When it comes out it should be dark and toasted and the aroma will be enough to make your mouth water. I use one piece of bread per chop, and if you are making more than 4 you'll need another can of soup. I'd say 1 can for every 4 chops.

Tonight I made sautéed zucchini and onions, and rice pilaf to go on the side of the pork chops.

I love how much flavor this dish has, it is definitely a favorite in this house. Give this one a try if you get the chance, maybe it will become a favorite in your home. Enjoy and remember to share it with a friend.

I know it may seem a little soon for another Tool Talk, but it has been a crazy weekend. The youngest has a chest cough and cold and after a quick trip to the after hours clinic I spent a good part of the weekend rocking a sick baby. What does that mean? It means another Tool Talk, yay!

This is about kitchen tools; a few that I simply could not live without. Even with all the baby rocking this weekend, I found time to bake a cake for my nephew. He is in the Navy, and about to be stationed in Japan for two years. I made him the strawberry cake found here, and I decided to highlight a few things that made this job easier.

Let’s start with the Kitchen Aid. The Kitchen Aid really deserves a post all its own, and doesn’t require much said except I don’t know why I waited so long to add this one to my arsenal.

The star of this post is parchment paper. This one gets a lot of use in my kitchen. Because of parchment paper I rarely ever have to wash a cookie sheet in my house, I never worry about cakes sticking, and it even makes an occasional appearance in craft projects.

If I’m using a round pan I grab a pencil and trace my pan, I fold the paper in half until the pencil marks line up and I channel my inner kindergartner and cut a circle just inside the pencil lines. I pop it into the pan and I’m good to go. Today I am using a 9x13 so the process it slightly different. I roll the paper up and hold it in the pan to estimate the size, I then use my kitchen scissors the snip the rolled up paper to the proper width.

I unroll and roll it in the other direction and repeat for the length. I use Pam for Baking on the sides and a little spray in the middle to keep the paper from moving while I pour.