Hi guys, I'm Laura Vitale and on this episode of Laura in the Kitchen, I'm going to show
you how to make something fast and easy and if you follow me on Instagram, then you know
this is a meal that I make about once a week if not more, this is just my Pork Chops, Roast
Potatoes and Broccoli Rabe, it's easy and it's simple, you might already have most of
the ingredients on hand, but we love it, and like I said, if you follow me then you know
how much we love it because it is a staple in our household and I think you will love
it too!
Especially if you're Italian and you grew up with broccoli rabe and pork chops or broccoli
rabe and sausage, then this is right up your alley.
Alright, let me sort of run you through the ingredient list because I want to walk you
through what I've already done.
I've got pork chops here, my preference is always a bone-in pork chop, look how beautiful
these are.
I don't like super thin pork chops because they dry out but these are gorgeous!
I've got some pepperoncini rings here, now this is actually cherry peppers but you can
use pepperoncini but I prefer cherry pepper rings, really nice and vinegary and super
spicy.
I've got a little bit of all purpose spice mix here for the potatoes, I've got some garlic
salt, I've got lots of broccoli rabe which I'll show you how to clean in just a minute,
lots of fresh garlic and hot pepper flakes, a little bit of parsley, I've got some beer
here, just a plain old lager, salt and pepper, tiny little bit of parm and you need some
potatoes.
Now I've got my oven pre-heated to 425F because once the potatoes are out of the way, then
everything else kind of takes the same time to cook that the potatoes do in the oven if
that makes sense.
Alright, so let me walk you through what I've done.
I've taken some potatoes, peeled and plunged them into some water, I bring the water to
a boil and let them boil for just a couple minutes, then I drain the potatoes and I put
them back into the same hot pot and that allows the potatoes to dry out any excess water from
boiling, and the reason I do this, if you've been watching me for a while, then you know
this is a method I've done a lot whenever I roast potatoes, 1) it cuts the time in about
half that they take in the oven and 2) I feel like if you part boil them slightly, they
soak up more flavor so I just think it's brilliant, like I said it takes less time for them to
bake.
It's perfect.
Alright, let's season them.
I just season them with some all purpose seasoning mix, I love the one from Costco that's salt-free.
I like a little bit of garlic salt.
A little bit of regular pepper, because I like a lot of pepper.
And then, just because I like that little bit of, you can't taste the parm because I'm
only adding a tablespoon but it just gives you a nibbly salty crust on the outside, it's
fabulous, a little bit of freshly grated parm.
I'm telling you it makes the biggest difference and it is so, so fantastic, and I do the same
thing to the pork chops, you don't taste the parm at all, but it gives you a lovely layer
of salty crust on the outside and a good two to three tablespoons of olive oil, not extra
virgin, just a good cooking oil.
And then give everything a really good stir and toss and I've got a baking pan here that
I've lined with parchment paper and the reason that I've done that is because it keeps everything
from sticking and it's easy cleanup.
I don't have to scrub my baking pan!
Plop those babies right on.
Oh they're gorgeous.
And these are going to go into the oven for about half an hour and I'll show you what
they look like when they're done but in the meantime, I'm going to switch my pans, bring
it here and then start cooking the broccoli rabe and once those are done we move onto
the next step, but I'll show you along the way, obviously.
Alright, so let's work on broccoli rabe.
Now, I love broccoli rabe, I grew up with broccoli rabe, this is two bunches that I
have trimmed and I'll show you how to do that, usually broccoli rabe comes on stems like
this and you take the leaves, if the leaves are the outer really big leaves then you want
to make sure that you strip them off the stem because the stem is quite rough, and then
you take the center heart right there and you just twist it off, and that's all you
do you wash them and then you let them drain well, now I grew up with broccoli rabe, so
to me broccoli rabe has got to be bitter, that's just the appeal of it.
Some People don't like that, some people think broccoli rabe is too bitter, so you can do
a few things, one, you can skip the broccoli rabe altogether and you can do something like
kale or you can do spinach, but keep in mind that spinach is going to wilt down to nothing
so you're going to need quite a bit to get a good amount once it's all cooked.
Or you can blanch your broccoli rabe in some boiling water, that will get rid of some of
he bitterness before you saute it.
I don't do that because I would rather just use broccoli or broccolini if that was the
case, I love the bitterness of broccoli rabe, it's what I grew up it's what I love so I
don't blanch it but if it bothers you then blanch it or use a broccolini or spinach or
kale of anything like that, so I've got some garlic in here and some hot pepper flakes
with some olive oil, it's nice and sizzling, now I am not going to wait for the garlic
to cook too, too much Simpy because I don't want it to turn bitter, that looks perfect,
a light golden.
I'm going to add my broccoli rabe.
It's a little bit wet so it might splatter, add your broccoli rabe in there, now two bunches
feeds my husband and Iby ourselves, a normal family it could probably feed up to four people,
but we love broccoli rabe so for us if it's more than two people we go with three or four
bunches.
And you just go ahead and just take your time, right, to make sure that your broccoli rabe
is kind of coated in that oil.
And now what you need to do is introduce a little bit of liquid into this, I'm going
to use regular water.
I wouldn't use stock or anything like that because it does add too much of the chicken
flavor if you're using chicken stock and I don't want that, I don't want to lose any
of the broccoli rabe flavor.
So at this point, I just add a little bit of water.
Deeding on how much broccoli rabe you use you will need about three quarters of a cup.
And I'm going to pop the lid on, first I'm going to hit it with some salt, pop the lid
on medium heat for about ten minutes, remove the lid, and keep cooking until all of the
water has been absorbed which could take another five to seven minutes and I will show you
what it looks like when they're done.
And that's how you cook broccoli rabe, and for those of you who ask me every single time
I share it on Instagram, now you know!
Broccoli rabe looks fantastic, remember they were covered for about ten minutes, I took
the lid off, and I let them cook until most of the liquid was evaporated but you want
to keep just a little bit behind otherwise your broccoli rabe would be really dry, we
don't want that!
So now let's move onto the pork chops.
I added a bit more oil, I don't even bother washing the pan because why would you?
I added a bit more olive oil to the pan, to the broccoli rabe, I just do a little garlic
salt.
Garlic salt is really mild but it gives you that little bit of extra flavor without being
like garlic in your face because I don't want that for this particular recipe, and then
I just do the tiniest bit from above so it's really light bit of cheese, this just provides
extra salty crust on the outside and to me any kind of meat that doesn't have that delicious
crust on the outside is really missing out, so now that I've got one side done I'm going
to place them into my really hot pan.
And then I'll do the opposite side, now I've only got three here because as you can see
these are giant, they're beautiful, absolutely beautiful.
I'm just going to do the other side now, that's perfect.
And I'm going to cook them, I want to say about three minutes or so on the first side
and when we flip them I'll show you the next step when we flip them so let them cook on
this side and I'll show you the next step.
Oh yes!
Yes, yes, yes.
You want to make sure that you get that beautiful crust, sometimes it just sticks a little bit
to the bottom of the pan.
Oh how gorgeous is that!
Now.
That's beautiful!
That's a keeper!
Now this is the point where you take your cherry peppers, and I just put some on top,
scatter some of them around.
And you let this cook for about three more minutes, a little bit of the juice, you let
this cook about three more minutes.
Once that three minutes is up, take them out, I'm going to put a screen on them - this splatter
screen on them, once that three minutes is up, and I just move my pan around to make
sure it's got even cooking all around it, once that three minutes is up I'm going to
remove the pork chops to a clean plate and I'll show you the next step.
Pork chops are done, they are resting, now look in here.
This is all goodness.
I need that and I want that to make a quick little sauce slash gravy, so I'm going to
add a little bit of beer, you can add stock if you want to.
And a little bit of water, just to kind of thin it out a bit, let that come to a boil,
and once it starts to boil,m it's already happening, you can see if you come real close.
It's going to release all those juices and bits that have been stuck to the bottom of
the pan.
See what I mean by the bits lifting off the bottom of the pan?
Just let this simmer until it's about half of the amount and it will be nice and delicious
and we will drizzle that all over the pork chops and by then the potatoes will be done
and we serve and eat!
Look at that!
It is just gorgeous and I've been taste testing it.
And if you don't like a lot of heat, definitely scale back and use less peppers, but we just
love this and we eat it often for a good reason.
I love the spice, so pour some of that delicious saucy gravy goodness over the top, by the
way if you don't have Christmas hand towels, or oven mitts in your kitchen throughout the
year, are you even living your best life?
Just sayin'
And a little parsley on top.
That's it!
Easy and simple, and delicious, your potatoes look at them, just perfect.
Your broccoli and potatoes are beautiful, look at that!
Mmm!
You know, no one's around right now.
So, let me live my best life.
Broccoli rabe, perfection as always.
The pork chops, I mean for real!
Does not get better!
I'll take a little piece, definitely the wrong knife, but we will survive.
Aw, gorgeousness.
Again, no one's around, no one's here, I live my best life.
Mmm.
For me, for our family, these are classics, these are on the weekly rotation menu and
I hope that they can be on your weekly menu as well.
Go to LauraintheKitchen.com I will have a breakdown recipe there for you, I hope you
have enjoyed spending time with me, I need me a new tater and I will see you next time!
Bye.