Pork Chops in a Sweet Chili and Onion Sauce

Pork Chops in a Sweet Chili and Onion Sauce

My son Michael picked out this recipe from the bookshelf:
From Rachael Ray’s 365: No Repeats Cookbook


Ingredients:
Coarse salt
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
4 (1 ½-inch-thick) boneless center-cut pork chops
Freshly ground black pepper
1 large red onion, finely chopped
1 heaping tablespoon chili powder (a heaping palmful)
½ tablespoon ground cumin (half a palmful)
3 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 cups chicken stock or broth
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat with 2 tablespoons of the EVOO (twice around the pan). Season the pork chops liberally with salt and pepper. Place the chops in the skillet and sear for about 2 minutes on each side to caramelize. Transfer the chops to a rimmed cookie sheet and place in the oven to finish off, 7 or 8 minutes, until the meat is firm to the touch, cooked through but not tough. Remove from the oven and let the chops rest, covered with a piece of aluminum foil, for a few minutes.

While the chops bake, return the skillet to the heat and add the remaining 2 tablespoons of EVOO, three quarters of the chopped onions, the chili powder, cumin, two thirds of the chopped garlic, the brown sugar, salt and pepper. Cook the mixture, stirring frequently, for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the chicken stock and simmer until reduced by half. Once reduced, turn off the heat and whisk in the cold butter.
Pour the sweet chili-onion sauce over the rested pork chops

MY COOKS TIPS:
First, the recipe was written to be served with a creamy cilantro potato salad. It sounds good but I had no cilantro in the house so didn’t make that. Part of the onion and garlic listed above was supposed to be used towards the salad. I used the entire onion and all the garlic for the pork chops as our family enjoys garlic. I also forgot to add the butter at the end; oops. It most likely would have tasted richer and been shinier in appearance, not sure how else it would have changed it.

FAMILY CRITIQUE:

This was made for Scott and Michael, per Michaels request. I told him we had pork chops I was making and go pick a new recipe, he picked this one. Ashley won’t eat pork chops and Zoe wasn’t home for dinner; although she didn’t like the smell as it was cooking. I wasn’t eating meat so I didn’t sample it. Scott and Michael really loved it and said they would definitely like it again in the future. Michael said first taste reminded him of tacos- probably due to the cumin; but then that flavor went away into something he couldn’t quite into words; only that he really liked it a lot. I made them each two, and they were eaten following day as afterschool snack. I told Scott I forgot the butter, it says it is obviously not needed, so may as well save the fat. They enjoyed it just the way it was and don’t want it changed.