It was a couple of years ago that our daughter-in-law, Karen, served this dish to us, and I liked it so much. She got it from Food & Wine magazine. In the few months after that, I made it several times, thought I’d entered it into my cooking software program, but somehow it dropped in the cracks. Recently Karen fixed it for us again with fresh Swiss chard from her garden, and I was reminded how good this dish is. And how EASY it is, too. How often can you make a dinner entrée (here it’s with pork chops) and NOT have to brown the chops? This baked casserole, if you can call it that, but not in the traditional casserole type meaning, is put together with relatively few ingredients. You might think it’s going to be blah. Au contraire.
Let me just tell you how easy it is: first you chop up a pound of (buy the pre-washed if you can) Swiss chard into ribbons and pieces. This is placed in a large Pyrex (or crockery) baking dish and you toss it with some olive oil and salt and pepper. You rub the pork chops (1-inch or thinner) with some oil too, season them and put them on top of the Swiss chard. Now, you know how much volume there is of the chard when you start – it will be mounding over the edge of the dish, but that’s normal. You drizzle the top of the chops with a bit more oil, then sprinkle on the two different cheeses. You bake it for exactly 18 minutes, remove it, cover the dish for 5 minutes and you’re DONE. Serve with a salad and some bread and you have a complete dinner. I sometimes add herb seasoning (like rosemary or thyme) to the pork chops, but that’s IT. I kid you not, this one is so simple and delicious.
Baked Pork Chops with Swiss Chard
Recipe: from Food & Wine, via our daughter-in-law, Karen
Servings: 4
1 pound Swiss chard — stems removed, leaves washed and cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Fresh-ground black pepper
2 pounds pork chops — 1-inch thick, about 6 ounces each
1 1/2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese — grated (or more)
2 ounces Fontina cheese — grated, about 1/2 to 3/4 cup
1. Heat the oven to 450°. Oil a 7 1/2-by-11 1/2-inch baking dish. In a medium bowl, toss the Swiss chard with 1 tablespoon of the oil, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Put the chard in the baking dish.
2. Rub the pork chops with 1 tablespoon of the oil, the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Put the pork chops on top of the Swiss chard. Drizzle the remaining tablespoon oil over the chard, around the pork chops. Sprinkle the Parmesan and fontina over the chard, around the chops. Bake until the chops are just done, about 18 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Per Serving: 525 Calories; 38g Fat (64.8% calories from fat); 41g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 129mg Cholesterol; 745mg Sodium.
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