Dilly Dilly Pork Chops
Yea, the commercial annoys the shit out of me too – but I wholeheartedly laugh everytime & the tagline makes sense for this recipe as you’re about to find out!
I’m not sure about y’all but fresh herbs have a special place in my heart. I love the unexpected zing they give dishes. In my humble opinion, fresh herbs are almost always overlooked. Everybody uses dried McCormick’s spices and calls it a damn day….I mean, sure? BUT WHY? They’re expensive, they don’t taste anywhere near as good as fresh, and they got recalled for salmonella in summer 2021, so keep that nugget of dark info in your mind.
just a reminder
As you know by now, my favorite kitchen past-times include cursing, Southern-isms, and cooking with wine. In or out of the recipes, mind ya business. Champagne is also a delicate choice for dishes – I wouldn’t say many, but I’d say some. Chris once made me a beautiful Valentine’s dessert that I like to call “fizzy raspberry dessert” that literally required only 2 TBS of champagne and I gladly drank the rest with no shame.
Lucky for you, this recipe calls for ¾ of a cup of champagne – YEA. It seems like a lot and maybe it kind of is. But it will cook down & make a scrumptious sauce! You may also drink the rest. Just be sure to give me a toast to thank me for all the knowledge while you’re guzzling my favorite alcoholic beverage as you make this delectable dish!
simple is best. it just is.
The simplicity of this dish makes me so damn happy. Because it tastes SO GOOD. And it turns out perfect, EVERYTIME. No expensive or overly-fancy ingredients, nothing too hard to find, nothing that you shouldn’t keep on hand most of the time *cough* the champagne, especially *cough* and its truly EASY! Each step has everyone doing its own thing – the pork chops sear first, then the onions sweat, then the sauce comes together, and then add the noodles in & the pork chops back in the sauce to finish simmering – TA-DA! I usually like to serve lemon-parmesan oven-roasted broccoli on the side with this dish because the sauce is also amazing on the broccoli – basically that sauce is amazing on anything. Is it sauce or is it gravy? What constitutes the damn difference?? – I might have to get back to you on that one….
the stuff dreams are made of…at least mine.
I dream a dream of progressive dinners….ya know, the ones that preferably 3 groups of friends all live relatively close to one another and you start at 1 house for appetizers & aperitifs, move onto another friend’s house for the main course (while trying to keep your shit together & stay classy) and end up at the final friend’s house for dessert & massive amounts of finisher-drinks. THAT DREAM.
But seriously let’s explore this….the onions & dill can be cut up ahead of time. The pork chops can be prepped, and CLEARLY you’re probably already sipping on something, so what’s it to ya to crack open another bottle while you WOW your guest with this dish?!
OR if you’re OCD like myself, or fear you’ll get too drunk to cook (that’s Chris’ fear for me *wink*) I’m sure this dish could be made to its near-completion and covered with tin-foil for the first trek of your journey for appetizers and then just boil the noodles when you get back!
IT CAN BE DONE!
Well, truth be told, this dish is very high on the list of things I would totally serve for a super-fun dinner party, a progressive dinner, or the almighty random-ass Wednesday – because that’s when Chris & I seem to enjoy it most.
Ingredients
· 4 pork chops, center-cut & boneless
· Broad egg noodles, boiled – 10 oz
· fresh dill, chopped finely – ½ cup ((yes I know that seems like a lot, but its so worth it so just shut up & doooo it))
· 1 medium vidalia onion, sliced thin
· Sour Cream – 1 cup
· Brut Champagne / Prosecco ((just none of that sweet shit)), ¾ cup
· Juice of ½ lemon
· S+P & Garlic Powder to taste
· 1 TBS unsalted butter
· 1 TBS olive oil
· Wegman’s Pan Searing Flour (optional)
Instructions, 1
Fill a large pot of water & get it started boiling on the stove.
Slice the vidalia onion & set aside.
Finely chop the fresh dill & set aside.
Pour your ¾ cup of champagne & set aside – also pour yourself a flute & get to sippin’!
Season both sides of the pork chops with S+P & garlic powder, and a dusting of seasoning flour – if you have chosen to use the Wegman’s Seasoning Flour then WELL DONE. That shit is magical & you will not be disappointed. I totally say its optional because, it is, and because not everyone has a Wegman’s and truth be told, I just discovered Wegman’s Seasoning Flour about a year ago so, I created this recipe without the use of it so….do as you wish & carry on.
Heat a large & deep saute pan over medium heat – add in the butter to melt and swirl in the olive oil.
Place all 4 of the pork chops in the pan together and do not disturb them – this will allow a beautiful sear from the Seasoning Flour and the butter will beautifully bubble all around them – set a timer for 3 minutes & walk away.
OK don’t *actually* walk away, but I know some of you are neurotic cooks & want to stand over everything and be a helicopter chef – when this recipe is SO not that difficult.
Once your 3 minute timer has sounded, flip the pork chops & set another 2 minute timer.
Have a plate with a tin foil cover at the ready to allow the pork chops to rest once you remove them from the pan.
Next, in the same pan you just took the pork chops out of, sweat down the sliced sweet vidalia onion – this could take 10-12 minutes & be sure to keep an eye on them, stirring occasionally. The onions will caramelize beautifully in the leftover pork juices and residual butter and olive oil.
Everything should be smelling SO delicious right about now!
Instructions, 2
SHIT – is your water boiling?! Well, it should be! Drop in your egg noodles – they should only take about 8-10 minutes to boil – perfect timing, whew!
Your dill should be chopped and patiently waiting for you to mix it together with the sour cream – sorry, if you’ve been guzzling the extra champagne like I have, then you’re probably a little woozy – all the more fun!
Stir in the dill into the sour cream and add in that squeeeeeze of lemon juice – it will really brighten everything up a notch!
Check on your onions again – they should be totally softened, slightly browned, caramelized and looking SO yummy.
If you are satisfied with the level of caramelization, turn the heat back up to medium and quickly pour in the ¾ cup of champagne and stir to coat all the onions.
It shouldn’t be too much of a fan-fare because the onions have been chillin for a minute and the champagne is more laid-back than its other alcoholic counterparts when it comes to deglazing a pan. So please, I really hope you don’t start a fire.
The onion / champagne mixture should be pretty loose and liquidy looking and that’s totally fine. You want the onions to soak up the champagne but not be dry – definitely not the point! Let the champagne bubble away for a few minutes to cook off the alcohol but keeps the lovely taste!
Next, stir in the sour cream / dill mixture straight into your onion / champagne pan – it will REALLY smell fresh as soon as you start stirring that spoon around!
DAMMIT – your noodles should be done boiling by now! DO NOT DRAIN THEM – simply scoop those suckers out with a mesh or slotted spoon! Put their lil noodle asses directly into your divine champagne-dill sauce!
Stir well to incorporate everyone – some of the starchy water droplets that come over on the noodles will also help tighten up the sauce ;)
Finally, nestle the pork chops back into the pan with everyone, turn the heat down to low and feel free to let it simmer for a few moments if you’re getting a salad together – or better yet, pouring yourself another glass of Champagne!
just call me Bob Ross
Dilly Dilly Pork Chops is one of my happy-accident-random-favorites that I can’t believe I made up & it actually took off. It’s actually a shocking story – one might not believe it! It all started one Sunday afternoon when I was doing the mundane task of writing our grocery list & prepping our meals for the week. Champagne was open & bubbling away and I was sipping happily – literally the only thing that keeps me going….ANYWAY….somehow, someway, I didn’t finish my bottle of champagne that day – if you know me at all, that is literally blasphemous. So, I’m staring at the bottle the next day like SHIT. What the fuck am I gonna do with you!? Well, like most alcohols, they taste amazing & make killer sauces. So naturally, the bubbles in Champagne would lead to a silky sauce that would cradle pork chops & keep them from drying out. Champagne is also very clean on the palate as is Sour Cream. I also had leftover dill from a Tzatziki I had made last week. I always have sweet onions on hand. ((these are literally the ticks going off in my head while I made this dish up)) DILLY DILLY PORK CHOPS WAS BORN.
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