By The strip mall job in Prairieville is in full swing. Eight units, eight tenants, eight different electrical requirements. A nail salon wants track lighting. A tax office wants a server room wired. A sandwich shop needs a commercial kitchen. And a karate dojo wants, for reasons I cannot explain, a disco ball mounted on a dedicated circuit. I installed the disco ball. I did not ask questions. The customer is always right, especially when the customer can break boards with his feet.
Marcus is leading the team on units 1-4 while I handle 5-8 with Terri. It's the first time I've split a job this way, and the delegation makes my stomach hurt in the way that trusting someone with your livelihood always does. But Marcus's work is clean. Terri's work is cleaner. And I'm learning — slowly, painfully, the way I learn everything — that a business can't grow if the owner insists on touching every wire. Joey tried to fish every fish. It didn't work. You have to let the net out. You have to trust the water.
Made a pork chop and rice casserole on Thursday — bone-in pork chops layered with rice, cream of mushroom soup, and onion, baked at 350 until the rice is tender and the chops are falling apart and the whole thing looks like a 1970s potluck and tastes like a warm hug from a grandmother who doesn't care about presentation. This is the dish that every Cajun household has some version of. It's the dish that you make when you have pork chops and rice and nothing else, and you throw it in a baking dish and let the oven do the thinking. Rémy ate the entire top layer. Danielle looked at him. "That was two pork chops, Rémy." "I know," he said, with no remorse. The boy fears nothing. Not bayous, not pork chops, not God.
When you’re learning to let go of the wires—to trust Marcus with units 1 through 4 and Terri with her cleaner-than-yours work—you need a dinner that asks nothing of you in return. This casserole is that dinner. You layer it, you shut the oven door, and you walk away. The oven does the thinking. Kind of like a good crew, if you let it.
Pork Chop and Rice Casserole
Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes | Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 6 bone-in pork chops, about 3/4 inch thick
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice, uncooked
- 1 can (10.5 oz) condensed cream of mushroom soup
- 1 can (10.5 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup
- 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon butter, for greasing
Instructions
- Preheat and prep. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with butter.
- Season the pork chops. Pat the pork chops dry with paper towels. Season both sides with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and smoked paprika.
- Sear the chops. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sear the pork chops for 2-3 minutes per side until golden brown. They don’t need to be cooked through—just get that crust. Set aside.
- Mix the rice layer. In a large bowl, stir together the uncooked rice, cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken soup, chicken broth, and Worcestershire sauce until well combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish and spread it evenly.
- Layer it up. Scatter the sliced onion over the rice mixture. Lay the seared pork chops on top in a single layer, pressing them gently into the rice.
- Cover and bake. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil. Bake at 350°F for 1 hour.
- Uncover and finish. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes, until the rice is tender, the liquid is absorbed, and the pork chops are cooked through and falling-apart tender.
- Rest and serve. Let the casserole rest for 5 minutes before serving. Spoon the rice alongside each pork chop so everyone gets plenty of that creamy, starchy goodness.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 485 | Protein: 32g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 46g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 980mg