Pork Chop Cast Iron Dinner

Prep: 10 minutes Bake: 25-30 minutes

I love cast iron cooking so much and one pot dinners are great. I love pork chops but have never made them. I wanted to try and when trying to sort what it was going to go with, I came up with a dish I wanted to put together. Pork chops, dressing and gravy. All together in perfection. We managed it. This will utilize some recipes I have done before to put together. My Grandma’s Dressing and the homemade chicken gravy.

Ingredients

Pork Chops

• 2 pork chops

• Paprika

• Thyme

• Salt

Dressing

• 1 cup cubed stuffing (more as needed)

• 2 tbls melted butter

• 1/4 cup stock

• 1/4 cup milk

• Onion and garlic powder to taste

• 1 egg

Gravy

• 1 1/2 cup chicken stock

• 2 tbls unsalted butter

• 1/8 cup all purpose flour

• 1/2 tsp onion powder

• 1/4 tsp dried thyme

• 1/2 tsp sage

• 1 tsp rosemary

• salt and pepper to taste

Prep

This first step isn’t to finish them but get the cooking started.

I didn’t make a lot of dressing which worked

The pork seeped into the dressing and added more flavor.

Taking the temp matters. Pork needs to be 145 F

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F

2. Start by staging the dressing. Warm the milk and stock in the microwave

3. Add to a bowl with the cubes and season as you’d like and mix the crap out of this. I recommend using more of a folding until the cubes start getting soft but not shredded. It’s ok to taste it at this step to make sure it’s what you want. Add other herbs just because why not?

4. When the taste is good add the egg and mix well and set aside

5. Heat the cast iron pan on the stove top to medium high with about 1 tbls of veggie oil

6. Take your pork chops and rub the paprika, thyme and salt into one side

7. Add to the warm pan with the seasoning down and cook for about 2 minutes. This should darken it and make it start to look cooked

8. Remove the chops and keep warm while you add the dressing to the bottom of the pan and spread a bit over the oil

9. Add the chops with the seasonings up on top

10. Cover with foil and bake for about 20-30 minutes. You want the chops to get to 145 F to know that it is done. The dressing should be browning. The pork will drain into it keeping parts more moist.

11. When you have either only a few minutes or while the cooked pork is cooling you can start the gravy as it only takes 5 minutes

12. Warm the stock in the microwave

13. Melt the butter in a sauce pan on medium heat

14. Add the flour and herbs and stir for about 1-2 minutes to heat the flour

15. Add the broth and whisk until it’s as thick as you want

16. Pour on top of chops to top it off

Afterthoughts

All together was a full savory taste, bursting with herb goodness that satisfies.

I really loved this dish. I made it while on Facetime with my mother and she was rightfully jealous which works for me. The chops were not dry but the gravy just tied everything together in a fantastic way. I could see adding veggies to make this a more balanced meal but the chicken gravy, pork and dressing was a fantastic assault on the taste buds. You get so much savory goodness in every bite. This is easy to be loved and a great dish for those family get togethers. It would be easy to add more to a cast iron pan that’s big enough to make enough for a family.