Friday, November 4, 2011

San Francisco Pork Chops

by Sheila Connolly

Ever have one of those days when time gets away from you?  When you run errands in three directions, then stumble home to find a hungry family and three cats staring at you, all wondering the same thing:  "Where's dinner?"  Assuming your spouse hasn't generously pitched in and made something, or volunteered to go out and fetch pizza/Thai/Mexican, you prioritize, fast.  Step one:  feed the cats.  Step two:  pull out one of your trusted quick and easy recipes.

Yes, the cat is helping
One of mine is San Francisco Pork Chops.  It came to me decades ago through an unsolicited mailing from someone who wanted to sell me a bunch of recipe cards.  I never did order anything from them, but I did keep the best of the recipes, and have been making this one ever since, with a bit of fine tuning.  It's quick to make and takes only (pause to count) nine ingredients, including water.

SAN FRANCISCO PORK CHOPS

3 or 4 boneless pork chops, thick cut
1 Tblsp cooking oil
1 clove garlic, minced

Trim the fat from the pork chops.  Heat the oil in a skillet, then brown the chops quickly on both sides (they don't need to be cooked through yet).  Remove the pork chops from the pan and add a little oil if needed.  Turn down sthe heat and aute the garlic briefly.

Sauce:

4 tsp cooking oil
8 Tblsp dry sherry
8 Tblsp soy sauce
4 Tblsp brown sugar
pinch of cayenne pepper

Combine the oil, sherry, soy sauce, sugar and cayenne in a bowl.  Return the chops to the pan and pour the sauce over them, turning the chops once to coat both sides.  Cover the pan tightly and simmer until the chops are cooked through.  You don't need to cook them too long--if you do, they'll get tough and chewy.

2 tsp cornstarch
2 Tblsp water

Salt and pepper to taste

Remove the chops from the pan again.  Dissolve the cornstarch in the water, and add the mixture slowly to the sauce in the pan, stirring constantly with a whisk.  Cook over low heat until the sauce thickens, just a couple of minutes.  Taste for seasoning (you may not need to salt the sauce if your soy sauce is salty).  Return the chops to the pan and coat them with the sauce.

Serve with cooked egg noodles (you can ladle the sauce over the noodles and the chops), with something green on the side.

7 comments:

  1. Sheila, simple and easy. I like finding a recipe (in the mail, in the newspaper) and thinking wow, simple, I can do this. I stow it and hope it comes out of the recipe box. You've inspired me to go back through mine and see what i haven't cooked in a while. And anything San Francisco...I'm in. :)

    ~Avery

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  2. You know, I haven't cooked pork chops for forever! This looks like an easy, tasty way to cook them. Thanks, Sheila!

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  3. Just fed or not, your cat has amazing self-control!

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  4. Isn't it funny that the cats always come first? It's the same at my house!

    Love the ingredients here. I'm always looking for those quick weeknight dinners and this one sounds great!

    ~ Krista

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  5. Thanks, all. It has become a family standard--both my husband (yes, he cooks) and I make it.

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  6. Excellent quickie recipe to share. We eat pork chops a few times a month. Looking forward to trying your version. Methinks it would also be nice over rice. Thanks, Sheila!

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