Who says that when thinking of pork chops recipes we automatically think grilling or frying? White meat like pork chops can be cooked with sauce, thus becoming extremely tender and tasty. This is an old recipe which will always taste great, no matter how cooking fashion will change (if there’s such thing as cooking fashion).

Ingredients:

• 8 pork chops, bone-in, 1 inch thick or even more
• 1 can of diced tomatoes in tomato juice (you can use fresh tomatoes, if you like, but you’ll have to peel them)
• 3 hot chili peppers, seeded and cut very small (the peppers need to be seeded because seed are extremely hot, so if you put them in your food you may not be so pleased)
• 2 red bell peppers, seeded, diced
• 16 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 2-3 dried laurel leaves
• Salt and pepper according to taste

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 50 minutes

Serves: 8

Cooking procedure:

Rinse the pork chops a little, then grill them 5 minutes on each side. This is a step which you can skip if you don’t have the time, yet the meat will taste better if you grill it before putting it into the oven. With a sharp pointed knife, make two holes in each chop and stick a garlic clove in each hole. Mix the diced tomatoes with the minced chili peppers, with the garlic and with the diced bell peppers, add some water and put everything to a boil. Take a baking dish, oil it, then put the chops inside. Make sure the dish is large enough as to accommodate all chops in one single layer. Pour the sauce over them. The liquid should cover the chops completely. If it’s not, just add either water or tomato sauce. Put the laurel leaves in, then cook the food in the oven for 30-40 minutes. Serve with mashed potatoes and pickled cucumbers.