Pork Chops with Mushroom Sauce and Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

I know it's Halloween.  I should be posting some kind of gruesome thing to eat.  Like those witches fingers or eyeball cupcakes or something.  But alas, I have no such post.  If it makes you feel better, it's a dead pig. ;)  

When I was growing up we used to eat pork chops with cream of mushroom soup over rice quite often and I loved it.  This is kind of a play on that but I think tastes a little fresher and is a bit healthier. We had it with Parmesan Mashed Potatoes but you could serve it with white or brown rice.  I had a pork roast in the freezer that I cut into pork chops but you could definitely buy them already cut.  This is a pretty painless recipe with few ingredients and not a lot of supervision.  I hope you like it as much as we did. :)

Pork Chops and Mushroom Sauce
1 lb center cut sirloin chops or roast cut into chops.
1 T olive oil, divided
1/2 medium onion, sliced
1/2 apple, cored, peeled and chopped
3 T cooking sherry
8 oz mushrooms, chopped
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
2 T chopped cilantro
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Add 1/2 T olive oil to oven safe pan and heat over med-high heat until oil starts to smoke.  Season both sides of pork chops with salt and pepper.

Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown.  Add onion slices and stir to coat, cook until slightly browned.

Add sherry to pan and apple.  Cover pan and transfer to preheated oven. 

Cook for 30 minutes or until pork is heated through.  Remove from oven, remove pork and transfer to cutting board,  transfer onion, apples and drippings to a bowl.  Add remaining 1/2 T olive oil to pan and cook mushrooms 2-3 minutes until tender.  Add evaporated milk and scrape brown bits off sides and bottom of pan add onion, apple and drippings.  Season with salt and pepper.  Cook 2-3 more minutes until bubbly.  I like to slice the meat thinly before serving, but you can serve the whole chop if you prefer.  Add cilantro and serve over rice or potatoes. 

Parmesan Mashed Potatoes
6 med potatoes, cut into chunks
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 T butter
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper


Boil potatoes about 20 minutes or until tender.  Combine all ingredients with mixer.  If you like them thinner, add milk or water from potatoes to achieve desired consistency.

Serves 4-6

Happy Halloween!