So Many Dishes

When I was a kid, I loved all the cartoons that were part of the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. One of my favorites was Mr. Peabody and Sherman, with their “wayback machine” to travel through time. I felt as if I had traveled back in time last evening, as I can’t remember how many years it’s been since I cooked the dish we ate.

Back before Rachel Ray made 30 minute meals popular, Marian Burros, who was a food writer for both the Washington Post and the New York Times, pioneered the concept. Her cookbook, Keep It Simple, from 1974, showed how to put a meal on the table 30 minutes after you took out the first ingredient. It was a cookbook I went to regularly when our kids were young. Alice took it with her when she went to college, and that’s the last I saw of the book.

Our favorite recipe from Keep It Simple was Polish pork chops. Truthfully, I think it was classified as Polish because it uses dill pickles and sour cream; how authentic it is, well, that’s open for discussion. But we all loved it, and the kids asked for it regularly. Ken and I were waxing nostalgic one evening a few years ago, and I went searching on the internet, found the recipe, and printed it. We cooked it once, the recipe ended up in my file, and the dish receded to a memory.

I came across that paper with the recipe a couple of weeks ago, so we decided it was time to put it on the menu again. That was a good decision!

In terms of 30-minute cooking, I cheated. I chopped the onion and pickles earlier in the afternoon. After all, it was baseball opening day, and the Phillies’ game didn’t start until 4:05. That meant frequent trips from kitchen to family room whenever it sounded as if something important had happened. But overall, the dish was as easy as I remembered. I simply browned the chops in a little bit of olive oil, then covered them and let them cook for about 15 minutes. (I ended up draining the fat at that point, something I’d never had to do before. The chops looked very lean when we bought them, but I guess I was wrong.) The recipe then calls for adding the chopped onion and cooking another five minutes, after which you add the remaining ingredients for the sauce and let it heat through. After I added those ingredients, I remembered that, every time I’d made this before, at that point I would say, “next time, I’m taking the chops out of the pan to mix the sauce ingredients”, but always forgot. I’ve written it on the recipe for next time 😄

I’ve always served the chops with noodles, which are perfect with the sauce. However, we still had a couple of dumplings from a package that Alice gave us, so we used those. I had planned to have a salad on the side, but it’s sweet corn season in Florida. We picked up a couple ears when we were at the market and had that instead.

We both enjoyed dinner. The pork was as delicious as I remember, and simple to put together. I don’t think we’ll wait years to make this again.

Polish Pork Chops

• 4 boneless pork chops, about 1 pound
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1/3 cup chopped onions
• 3 tablespoons dry sherry
• 1/4 cup chopped dill pickle
• 1 8-oz. can tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup sour cream

Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Lightly season pork with salt and pepper. Brown the chops in the skillet until lightly browned on both sides. Reduce to medium low, cover pan, and cook for 15 minutes.

Uncover pan, drain off fat, if necessary, and add chopped onions. Raise heat to medium and cook until pork is cooked through and onions are soft, about 5 minutes.

Remove pork chops from pan and keep warm. Add sherry and cook for one minute, then reduce heat to low, and add tomato sauce, pickles, and sour cream. Mix together and heat gently. Do not let the sauce boil. Return the pork to the pan and check seasoning, adding salt and pepper as necessary. Serves 4.

Happy eating !