Pork Chops with Sweet Onion Sauce

Tonight's Paleo dinner took a little prep work.  Mostly it was chopping: the pork loin, onions, garlic, and dates.  Also I served this with cauliflower mash so I had to chop and prepare the cauliflower.  I won't get into that because I've blogged about the cauliflower mash before.

After the prep work was done, this really was a simple meal.  Put some marjoram, salt and pepper on the chops, then fry in bacon fat for a few minutes, flip, and fry until done.  Take them out of the pan and cover, then in the same pan add some red wine vinegar, the onions, garlic, and dates.  Let that simmer until the sauce is reduced and the onions are soft.  Simple, right?

Verdict: I overcooked the chops because I was following the original recipe rather than actually keeping an eye on my chops.  They didn't take as long as I thought they would because I cut them small from my pork loin.  But even with being a little well done, the sauce more than made up for it.  The onions and dates were delicious!  My husband and I both absolutely loved it.  The flavors were a little "adult" for the kids, they just weren't thrilled with the sliced onions or dates, and that just meant they scraped them off and we ate them.  I think I would definitely like to try this again being more mindful of how long I cook my pork.

PORK CHOPS WITH SWEET ONION SAUCE

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:

1 pork tenderloin, sliced (or 4 pork loin chops)

½ tsp marjoram, pepper, salt

¼ cup red wine vinegar

1 small white onion, sliced

6 dates, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ tsp salt

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Heat a frying pan on medium.  Melt 1 TBSP of bacon fat in the pan.

2. Season pork chops with marjoram, pepper, and salt.  Place in heated pan.

3. Fry with lid on for about 7 minutes each side, or until fully cooked through. **Watch your cooking time.

4. Remove from pan and place a cover over chops to keep warm.

5. Add red wine vinegar, onion, dates, garlic, and salt to now empty pan.  Scrape any pork bits left behind to make sure they incorporate.

6. Continue to cook on medium heat until sauce is reduced and onions are soft.

7. Scoop on top of pork chops and serve.