Smothered Pork Chops & Cabbage
INGREDIENTS
- 5 or 6 1/2" thick pork chops;
- 2 heads of coarsely sliced cabbage;
- 2-3 tablespoons of cooking oil;
- 2 cups diced onions;
- 5-6 cloves of finely minced garlic; 1/2 tsp black pepper;
- 1 1/2 tsp salt;
- 1/4 cup dried parsley;
- 1/2 cup tomato sauce;
- salt and pepper;
DIRECTIONS
- Salt and pepper five or six 1/2" thick pork chops and brown over medium-high heat in a few tablespoons of oil in the bottom of a large 6-8 quart pot.
- When both sides of the chops are browned, remove the chops, throw in 2 cups diced onions and 1/4 cup of water.
- Scrape the bottom of the pot to scrape up the browned bits.
- The onions need to be caramelized to an almost mahogany color. This is done by alternately browning the onions and then throwing in a small amount of water and scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
- This can take awhile, 30 to 40 minutes is about right.
- Caramelizing the onions is the most important step to getting this dish to turn out right.
- When the onions have been caramelized, add 5-6 cloves of finely minced garlic, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 cup dried parsley to the onions, mix thoroughly and cook for a minute until you can smell the garlic cooking, immediately add 1/2 cup tomato sauce and 1/2 cup water.
- Adding enough garlic is the second most important step, so don't be shy about adding the 5-6 cloves.
- Put 1 1/2 heads of coarsely sliced cabbage into the pot, don't stir, place the browned pork chops on top of the cabbage, turn the burner down to a little below medium and cover the pot.
- Allow the cabbage and pork chops to smother for about 20 minutes, open the lid, stir the cabbage and pork chops and add the remaining 1/2 head of cabbage.
- There should be a rapidly bubbling 1 to 2 inches of juice on the bottom of the pot.
- You don't want to burn the cabbage, so add more water if necessary, replace the lid and smother the pork chops and cabbage for another 15-20 minutes.
- Stir the cabbage and pork chops, cover and smother for another 10-15 minutes.
- Taste the cabbage and salt and pepper to taste. The first cabbage put in the pot should not be mush but should be pretty wilted.
- The second cabbage should be cooked through but the spines of the cabbage leaves should still have some texture to them.
- The cabbage will continue to cook after you turn off the heat so err on the side of under cooking the cabbage.
- Serve the cabbage and cabbage juice over steamed rice and serve the pork chops on the side.
- It should be a little spicy from the pepper.