Pork chops with fresh herbs

Do you do a garden? I have lots of fresh herbs growing, along with my tomatoes and peppers. I have thyme, sage, basil, rosemary, oregano, and tarragon growing, either indoors or out. In this recipe I used them all. If you don’t have fresh herbs growing, pick a couple at the store (sage and basil would be my first choice), and use those.

There are lots of ways I could have gone with this. I could have breaded the chops first. I could have finished it with some balsamic vinegar. I chose to keep it simple, and use white wine. I dry rubbed it, but a marinade would have worked too. Here’s how I put this together.

2 thick pork chops

Cajun seasoning

Onion powder

White pepper

Olive oil

Soy sauce

1 cup of dry white wine

1 thin red hot pepper

2 sprigs of thyme

5 sage leaves

4 basil leaves

2 rosemary tips

2 oregano sprigs

2 tarragon sprigs

2 tbs. butter

Preparation

Season the chops on both sides with equal amounts of cajun seasoning, white pepper, and onion powder. Pre-heat the broiler and heat a large cast iron pan until hot. Add enough olive oil to coat the bottom, and then add the chops. While they sear on that side, finely chop all the herbs. Slice the hot pepper real thin.

Turn the chops over, let them sear for a minute and add the wine, and then all the chopped herbs and the pepper. Add them around, not over the chops. Bring the wine to a boil. Drizzle soy sauce over the chops, and then place the pan under the broiler. Broil until the tops of the chops are nicely charred, and then turn them over, place a tablespoon of butter on each, and broil again. When your chops are sizzling, you are ready to serve.

Serving

Place the chops on a plate, and drizzle them with the cooking liquid. I made one mistake when I took the picture, in that, I left most of the herbs in the pan. I corrected that as I sat down to eat. Make sure the chops have lots of the cooking liquid with all of the herbs and the pepper slices on them. 

In addition to that, add a baked potato, a tossed salad, and some good Parmesan cheese to slice. I also put a couple slices of leftover pizza, that I heated under the broiler, on the table. Open a good Merlot, and ring the dinner bell.