Atomic Pork Chops Recipe

Here's another one for all you fans of the atomic age.  Too much of the food back then was made with a can of Campbell's Cream of . . .  I'm just not a big fan of that style of cooking.  Though I will admit that I made the Sookie's casserole recipe from the recent installment, The Sookie Stackhouse Companion.  We all loved it.  Classic southern comfort food.

I digress, back to the recipe at hand.  These pork chops were a Sunday favorite dinner, growing up with June (well, really Rae) in the 1970s with my Malibu Barbie.  My mom was married in 1955, but she kinda waited until the last minute to have her kids-- a woman ahead of her time.  This is a one dish meal with rice and mandarin oranges cooking in the same dish as the pork chops.  The tart sweet little oranges are great with the chops.  I like to accompany with a salad.  This salad is simple: spring greens, celery, apples, with a light vinaigrette topped with blue cheese crumbles.

My mom always prepared the entire meal on the counter-top in her electric skillet.  I like to do it in two steps: prepare on the stove in my large All-Clad Saute pan and finish by baking in the oven in my Emile Henry rectangular baker covered with foil.  I love the Emile Henry ceramic pieces.  They are pretty enough to bring to a party as serveware and the glaze cleans up like a fine non-stick surface.

Without further ado---

Atomic Pork Chops

Pork chops (I like the boneless thick cuts for this recipe.)

¾ cup Flour

salt

pepper

garlic powder

olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 large cans mandarin oranges

1 can chicken broth

½ teaspoon ginger

¼ cup + white wine

1 teaspoon salt

pepper to taste

Rice (1 ¾ cups)

Rinse chops and pat dry.  Mix flour, salt, pepper, and garlic powder in shallow bowl.  Dredge chops.  Coat bottom of large pan with oil.  Brown chops.  Remove chops to large oven proof roasting pan with lid.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Add onions to pan and sauté.  Drain oranges, reserving juice.  Set slices aside.  Combine reserved juice, broth, ginger, wine, salt and pepper.  Add to pan and deglaze.  Add rice (enough that it is half of the juice mixture).  Bring to boiling.  Mix in orange slices.  Add to roasting pan with chops: pour over the chops and spread the rice evenly with liquid for proper plumping.  Bake in oven 45 minutes.  Serve with salad.

A nice glass of white wine is great with this dish.  And there is plenty left of that bottle after you add a little to the recipe.  The wine is not really noticeable; it just adds some complexity to the flavor.  So we've been enjoying Bogle Chardonnay recently.  It's a great bottle of wine in the $10 range-- and often cheaper on sale right now at Safeway.

 Cheers!