Spicy Russian Pork Chops with Potatoes & Mushrooms

Aloha all!

I was asked a couple of weeks ago about if I had ever cooked Russian pork chops. I had never even heard of anything like the dish. In fact, i’d never even knew anything about Russian cuisine, other than beef stroganoff, which I make from scratch with gourmet mushrooms from the area. Sadly to say this has been my only excursion into Russian cooking.

With that said, I found myself a challenge and began searching my good friend google for a good recipe to give a try. And as a true friend, Google gave me more than I needed! So being a true risk taker, I picked one recipe that sounded tasty from www.geniuskitchen.com and the husband loved it. In fact he thought I was trying it again when I mentioned putting the recipe on the blog!

This is a warm wintery one skillet meal that the only ingredients I had changed was to substitute plain olive oil for my new go to favorite, Harissa. Harissa is a Middle Eastern spice that is mainly used in many of the dishes found within the cultural foods and flavors of that part of the world and imparts a warm spicy flavor to meals. Also, because the recipe called for pork and sour cream in the ingredients, I added sage and tarragon to my rub of garlic, onion, salt and pepper. I also used two thick bone in pork chops that were about an inch thick. The recipe called for center cut pork chops, but the friendly butchers at Sunnyside Meats did not know what it referred to and guided me to my selection.

Another substitution I used with this recipe was I increased the sour cream to half a cup and a quarter cup of milk. One other item I would suggest that others do if you choose to try this recipe is to pre-boil your potatoes. Raw potatoes don’t cook in 10 minutes even if they are sliced. It took about half an hour to cook those potatoes and not burn everything else. Below is the recipe with the new additions.

Happy eating and stay warm!

Spicy Russian Skillet Pork Chops

Ingredients

 1⁄4 lb. Potatoes, sliced

 1⁄2 tsp. garlic powder

 1⁄2 tsp. onion powder

 12 tsp. Black pepper

 1⁄2 c.mushrooms, sliced

 2 bone-in pork chops, 1” thick

 3 tbsp Harissa olive oil

 1/4 c. milk

 1⁄2 c. Sour cream

 DIRECTIONS

Put oil into skillet. Heat it over medium heat. Add potatoes and brown lightly. Set aside.

Season chops with powders and pepper. Put a little more oil in skillet. Cook chops for one minute on each side. Drain fat if necessary. Add milk. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Add potatoes and mushroom. Cook for 10 more minutes. Add in sour cream and heat but not to boiling.

 Serve with fresh local greens, hot crusty bread and a good bottle of wine. Enjoy!