pan fired pork chops with greens and dressing

I've blogged about these thick-cut pork chops before, because Jim loves them, and they can vex me, trying to keep them succulent while still cooking them through.  I have stuffed them in the past with bread stuffing, or a combination of goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and greens.  But I have decided that splitting them to make a pocket for filling increases the risk of drying them out before the filling comes up to temp.  So last week, I pan-fried them, and made rainbow chard and a dressing on the side.  I started with a brine of salt, honey, orange juice, and bay leaf in water.  I brined the chops for about 4 hours, then seared them off in one of my beloved mineral pans.

these pans really put a beautiful sear on foods--

I don't understand why they aren't in every kitchen

I made the dressing on the side.  My plan was to use celery, toasted pecans, apples, sage, fresh parsley, salt, pepper, an egg, chicken broth, and some old bread that needed to be used.  The veggies got sauteed in a bit of butter until they were just beginning to soften.  Then everything got tossed together with an egg and enough chicken broth to make a soft dressing.

mise en place was not en place--I forgot the apple

everything ready to go, but where's the apple?

no worries, I just diced a granny smith, sauteed it in a little butter,

and mixed it into the stuffing right in the pan

I had some rainbow chard in the fridge, as well as some mushrooms and shallots.  Sounded like a perfect side for a Southern pork chop dinner.

it probably doesn't get much more Southern than this,

though I didn't have any fatback in the greens