Baked Pork chops and Rice
Mix, and then divide mixture in half:
2tsp cumin
1.5tsp chili powder (or less, if you don’t like it too hot)
1tsp salt
1Tbl dried oregano
1tsp ground pepper
To half the spice mixture, add:
2 cloves of garlic, minced.
Rub garlic spice mixture on both sides of 2 pork chops and, if you have time, cover, and let them sit refrigerated for up to 24 hrs.
In an oven proof pan, heat 1T of olive oil over med-high heat and brown the pork chops, each side for less than a min. Remove chops from pan.
Lower the heat to medium, add to the pan, and saute for 30 seconds:
1T of oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 green or red pepper, chopped
the remaining spice mixture
Add 1C uncooked rice, and stir to coat. Cook rice, stirring frequently, for another 30 seconds.
Turn off the heat and add:
1C water
2T of Worcestershire sauce
Lay pork chops on top of rice mixture and cover.
Bake at 350 in pre-heated oven for 45 minutes
-or-
Layer the pork chops over the rice mixture in a crock pot and cook in the crock pot for 2 hours on high -or- 4 hours on low
This recipe can be used for other cuts of meat, such as country style spare ribs. It can also be used for baby back ribs, or spare ribs if you adjust the baking temperature and time. I suggest 3 1/2 hrs at 200 in the oven, or in the crockpot on high for 4 hours, or low for 6-8hrs.
I’m so excited to share this recipe with you!
1. Because it is sooo good.
2. I feel like I developed it more than the other recipes I’ve shared. Other recipes I tweaked here and there; this one I really pulled ideas from multiple sources, and altered till I had what I wanted, and it’s not anything like the sources I pulled from.
Problem: Opportunity: We had a bunch of pork chops that had the fat cap layer on them. One of our customers requested this, so we went ahead and butchered some other pigs the same way. This fall we grilled some of these chops the same way we grilled ‘regular’ pork chops. They were delicious (of course), but a lot of the extra fat sizzled down into the grill, wasted. I needed to develop a way to use that fat, a recipe that capitalizes on it’s awesome flavor, and doesn’t waste that nutrition.
This recipe was born.
There are a lot of parts of the animal that often go unused because they seem ‘gross’ and because our customers don’t know how to prepare and eat them. Besides just populating our blog with recipes, I specifically experiment with and include recipes for organs and the like as a resource for our customers.
Using things wisely and responsibly. I’ve written about this before here. Using all the parts of an animal is another way to do that. And it should be yummy, too!
We got the chance to see Dario Cecchini recently. Dario is an Italian butcher, and an eighth generation Cechhini butcher; his family has been butchering for the last 250 years. He grew up on pork trotters and beef liver, which, at that time, were the parts of the animal that his family’s customers didn’t want. Now he’s world renown for his ‘nose to tail’ butchery, preparing all parts of the animal. It’s how he respects the animal.
We share this same philosophy, and know our customers probably do to. So here’s a recipe that uses that extra fat, and check out the other recipes on here as well. I’d love to hear about YOUR recipes also! How are you using up ‘all the bits’?