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.

Ingredients:

• 6 pork chops, boneless, approximately 1 inch thick
• 1 pound baby carrots (fresh or frozen)
• 1 can baby corn
• 2 red onions, quartered
• 6-8 average size potatoes, cut in quarters
• 1/2 pound red bell peppers, sliced
• 1/2 cup parsley leaves, chopped small
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper according to taste; you can add some hot chili powder if you like
• 6-8 garlic cloves, peeled, minced

Cooking time: 1.5 hours

Serves: 6

Cooking procedure:

Put the olive oil in a casserole and spread it all over, then put the potatoes, the onions, the baby corn and the carrots on the bottom of the casserole, making sure to arrange them in an even layer. Rub the pork chops with salt, pepper and chili powder, then put them over the vegetables. You can sprinkle them with olive oil, but not too much. Then put the casserole in the oven and cook it for 50-60 minutes at low temperature, then set the oven on higher temperature and cook the food for ten more minutes.

Meanwhile, make a garlic sauce: put the garlic cloves in a bowl and mix them with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and with a little bit of salt, until it becomes creamy and white, looking very much like mayonnaise. Then add some water to make it more fluid if you like, but you can also leave it creamy. Serve the pork chops hot, with garlic sauce on them.

Barbecue is a good occasion to get the family and friends together and enjoy good times and good food. If times can be good regardless your cooking skills, for the food to be good, you need to know how to prepare it. Here’s a great barbecue meal idea: pork chops and vegetables, all grilled and served with BBQ sauce and mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:

• 6 pork chops, 3/4 inch thick, bone-in
• 2 red peppers, seeded, cut in quarters, lengthwise
• 2 green peppers, cut the same
• 1 zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced
• 12 big mushrooms, without stems
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• Salt and pepper

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves: 6

Cooking method:

Mix the garlic with one tablespoon of olive oil, thyme, rosemary and salt. Rub the mixture over the pork chops, on both sides. Put the chops on the heated grill and let them cook for about 8-10 minutes on each side, or until the internal temperature reaches 160 F. In order to avoid the meat from sticking to the grill rack, you can coat the rack with some cooking spray or with olive oil. When the chops are done, sprinkle a little bit of olive oil on the vegetables and grill them for 2-3 minutes on each side. You can salt them a little bit before grilling. Serve the food hot, with ketchup or barbecue sauce and with mashed potatoes. If you’re cooking outdoors, bone-in pork chops are better, because they are easier to eat with the bare hands. For indoor dinners, you can go for boneless chops if you want.

Maple syrup is one of those ingredients that can go as well into sweets as into main courses. A maple syrup based glaze is good not only for pork chops recipes, but also for ham steak or other types of meat.

Ingredients:

• 8 pork chops (not too thick, the best ones are about 3/4 inch, either bone-in or boneless, as you desire)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Maple glaze ingredients:

• 2 cups maple syrup
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 4 tablespoons ketchup (mild or hot, according to your preference)
• 2 tablespoons mustard (if you choose hot ketchup, get classic mustard, otherwise the chops will be too hot)
• 2 tablespoons soya sauce (or Worchestershire sauce)

Cooking time: 45 minutes - 1 hour

Serves: 8

Cooking procedure:

Rub the meat cuts with salt and pepper on both sides. Pan fry the pork chops in olive oil until they get brown, then bake them in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. You can turn them at the middle on the interval, so they get evenly cooked on both sides. While chops are in the oven, make the glaze. Combine the maple syrup with the sugar, ketchup, mustard and soya sauce, then boil the mixture slowly, at low temperature, stirring continuously. When it boils, set it aside. After the first 20 minutes of baking the pork chops passed, take them out of the oven and brush them with glaze, then keep on baking them for 20 minutes more, basting them with glaze at 7-8 minutes intervals. Serve them hot, together with the remaining glaze. As side dishes, you can prepare mashed potatoes. Other nice options for side dishes are sweet potatoes or grilled asparagus.