I like pork chops with a creamy mushroom sauce and my husband likes pork chops one way, baked with paprika and salt and pepper. So I thought I would try to please the both of us the other night and I made a combination of our favourites and added parmesan cheese to the mix, because who does not like cheese, and it goes well with mushrooms and paprika.
It’s a one pan easy bake process!
I pulled 4 of our Dragonfly Garden Farm pastured pork chops right from the freezer. I know you are not supposed to do this, but I quickly pried them apart with a knife and placed them into the glass-baking dish. (I used a butter knife and did not stab or cut myself in the process so it was all just fine, but don’t do it, thaw the chops first OK!)
I drizzled them with Olive Oil about 3 tablespoons just so they would not stick to the pan. I added ¼ cup of 1% milk and a splash of table cream, because we had it and it was almost about to expire. Organic milk does not keep past the expiry date. You hit that date and it’s done! Thank goodness too, milk should expire at a reasonable time!
I added some green onions. I harvest them from my garden, clean and slice them up, freeze them on a baking pan and put them in the freezer in a ziplock or mason jar and then just grab a handful when I need them – a great way to keep green onions, chives, parsley and peppers. I do the same with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and peaches and use them for smoothies or baking!
I sprinkled on some chives and parsley from the freezer, added a generous amount of paprika, its Mike’s favorite, and salt and pepper. I dropped on some white button mushroom and then a generous sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, (the good kind, you find in the cooler section), and popped it into the oven at 350 for about an hour. I flipped the pork chops twice to make sure they were cooking evenly and didn’t stick.
I baked in a separate glass baking dish, fresh potatoes, carrots, zucchini and beets from the garden in some olive oil and salt and pepper. They took about an hour as well. I had some wonderful cucumber fresh from the garden, so I made a cucumber salad too.
Life is that good! The pastured pork chops were full of flavor, the milk made them fall off the bone tender and the paprika, mushroom and parmesan combination was spectacular!
If I had a husband who was less picky, I would have taken the baking pan and added some more milk to clean all the dripping out of the bottom. Then pour the milk, drippings and mushrooms into a pot and brought it to a boil with some garlic, pepper, and parsley and thickened it to make a wonderful alfredo-style sauce. I would have drizzled it over the chops ! Yum!
But he wouldn’t eat it and I was tired and it was late so I didn’t do it. But I guarantee it would have been good! Try it and let me know!
Take Care and care about what’s on your fork, we do!
Cindy
