Pan-Fried Pork Chop With Mash

Iml wanted the recipe for this pan-fried pork chop. I get really thrilled when someone asked me for recipes. I am no cook, just love to cook, have no culinary training whatsoever and all the recipes I have come from family, friends, cookbooks and television food programmes.

When I am obsessed with one particular recipe I would cook it day after day until I am satisfied with the result and that's the time my family would find all kinds of excuses to eat out. Can't really blame them, who would want to eat the same food day after day.

This Kylie's recipe does not call for garlic but we love garlic and it does add a really nice aroma to the meat.

Do not overcook the meat or it will be dry and must be served hot. Here we have it with mashed potatoes that has a slight twist to it, a family favourite too.

Pan-Fried Pork Chop

Serve 4-6

8-10 pieces pork chop, about 2/3 cm thick, pounded thin with back of cleaver

2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed coarsely

1 tablespoon corn starch

salt and pepper

2-3 tablespoon oil

Marinade meat with salt and pepper generously; add garlic, mix well and leave for about 30 minutes.

Mix in the cornstarch when ready to fry.

Heat a heavy based frying pan; add oil and fry pork chop in medium heat. Turn over when golden, about 3 minutes and cook the other side. As the chops are thin they cook fairly quickly.

Serve it on top of mashed potatoes, with deglazed gravy or not.

To deglaze, just add 1/2 cup of stock/balsamic vinegar or red wine to the frying pan that was used to fry the chops; scraping all the tasty bits from the pan and reduce the liquid until a saucy gravy is attained. Serve with the chops.

Mashed potatoes

1 kg potatoes (Idaho is good), peeled and cubed

1 cup chopped celery

~1 cup milk

1-2 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

salt and pepper

Boil potatoes in salted boiling water until soft. Drain.

Add in butter, cheese and milk while potatoes still hot; mash and mix well.

Add in celery; salt and pepper to taste.

The celery is optional but it lends a refreshing bite to the otherwise ordinary mash. I first started adding veggies like onions, cilantro or celery disguised into the mash when the children were young and didn't like veggie much. I would chopped the veggie really fine then and mixed in well with the mash they love rendering it impossible for them to pick out the veggie from the mash. Now, I don't chop the celery that fine anymore because they like the crunch it gives in the mash.

Pork Chop served with mash and salad with balsamic dressing.

For salad, there is no rules, anything goes. Any fresh veggies like cherry tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce, even fruits like apples, oranges, pears etc etc...
For the dressing, I mixed balsamic vinegar, olive oil, a squeeze of orange juice, some honey, if you like and salt and pepper to taste.

Jo