Herb Rubbed Seared Pork Chops

At long last, my lovely girlfriend has joined me in our apartment. This means that I won't generally be cooking for one anymore. On top of that, her tastes are a bit different from mine. To celebrate the first dinner that we would have together, I wanted to make a dish that I thought she would love. Her favorite meat is pork, and she absolutely loves herbs. I came up with a nice herbal dry rub to put onto some pork chops, and it ended up being awfully good.

It's tastier than it looks.

Ingredients:

  - 1 tsp dried ground rosemary

  - 1 tsp dried marjoram

  - 1/2 tsp salt

  - 1/4 tsp black pepper

  - 1 tbsp flour

  - 3 1" thick pork chops

  - 2-3 tbsp olive oil

Instructions:

1. Add all the dry ingredients to a small bowl and mix them together
2. Begin heating the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
3. For each pork chop, take a good pinch of the dry rub and coat one surface of the meat. Only coat one side for now: if you put down the meat rubbed-side down, the rub gets soggy and will stick to your cutting board instead of the meat.
4. Once the oil is hot, add the pork chops one at a time, coating the second side of each with rub before putting it into the skillet.
5. Cook for about seven minutes, then turn. Because of the flour, expect the meat to stick to the pan more than you'd like it to. You should have a golden brown color.
6. Cook the second side for six minutes.
7. Set the meat to the side for five minutes before eating.

Okay, I have a confession. I didn't actually measure anything when I made this rub, and I made it last night so I don't remember it quite perfectly.. Having said that, the amounts posted above should do a pretty good job. The flour improves the texture when you fry it, and the salt helps bring out the flavors of the meat and herbs. A lot of pork sausages have marjoram in them, so it made sense to me that the herb could do some good things. The flavor ended up being quite nice when all was said and done. I accidentally made it the least bit too salty, but the amounts above should correct for that. Rosemary has been a pork standby of mine for a while now. I ground it myself with a mortar and pestle. If you don't have ground rosemary or a mortar and pestle, don't sweat it. You could try chopping dried rosemary, or just toss the leaves in whole and forget about it. It'll probably come out fine.

This ended up making my favorite pork chop I've had in a long time. It booms with flavor, and all of the ingredients complement each other really nicely. I served it with a mixture of steamed carrots, broccoli, and peas. I also tried to deglaze the pan I fried the meat in using a mixture of tequila, vinegar, and water (I didn't have any white wine) to make a gravy for some pasta, but that failed miserably. I'm going to do my best to pretend that it never happened. I will also admit that, when it comes to pork chops, I have a small weakness. I tend to overcook them. These ones came out okay. Seven then six minutes on medium high should give you pork chops that are plenty cooked through without being too dry.

Nutrition-wise, well, they're pork chops. You could do better for yourself by eating chicken, or worse by eating beef. 

Final verdict:

Taste: 4.5/5

Ease: 3.5/5

Health: 3.5/5