Pork Chops Over Rice -- The Simple Supper I Made After the Festival Reminded Me Why Home Cooking Wins

Puerto Rican Festival again. This year I did not cook at a booth — I have a two-month-old grandson and my priorities have shifted from public cooking to private holding. Instead, I attended as a guest, which felt strange, like visiting a place where you used to work. I walked among the food booths and I judged. Silently. Internal judgments that I shared with nobody except Eduardo, who received them without comment because Eduardo has been receiving my internal judgments for thirty years and has learned to nod at the appropriate intervals.

The alcapurrias at booth seven were oversalted. The pinchos at booth three were undercooked. The piraguas were excellent — you cannot mess up shaved ice and syrup, and the tamarind was fresh. I bought two piraguas and ate them and the cold sweetness was Bayamon, was childhood, was the corner near the house where the piragua man parked his cart and I waited with fifty centavos and all the patience an eight-year-old can manage, which is not much.

Mami stayed home with Lucas. She babysat. My eighty-one-year-old mother, who four months ago was under a tarp in Bayamon, babysat my grandson in a Hartford living room with the air conditioning on and the novelas playing. Jenny was nervous leaving the baby with Mami. I said, Jenny, this woman raised seven children to adulthood. She survived a hurricane. She can handle a two-month-old for three hours. Jenny nodded. She was right to be nervous — every new mother is nervous, that is the job — and she was also wrong because Mami is the most capable woman on earth and the only risk is that she will feed Lucas opinions before he can understand language.

David called from Brooklyn. He and James went to a Puerto Rican restaurant in the Bronx. David critiqued the mofongo. He said, Mami, it was dry. I said, Of course it was dry. Nobody mofongo is as good as ours. He said, Ours? I said, Yes, ours. Yours and mine. We are mofongo partners. He laughed. I heard James laughing in the background. James is learning to laugh at Delgado conversations, which is the final stage of integration, the same stage Jenny passed through two years ago. He is one of us now. He just does not know it yet.

Came home and made arroz con maiz — rice with corn, simple, sweet, summery. The corn was from a farm stand on Route 4 that I stop at every July for the Silver Queen corn that is so sweet you could eat it raw. Hartford has terrible winters but magnificent corn. I will give it that.

After a day of walking the festival grounds, holding quiet opinions about everyone’s alcapurrias, and coming home to make rice with the best corn Hartford has to offer, I wanted dinner to be effortless — something that asked nothing of me except to let it cook. Pork chops over rice is exactly that kind of recipe: one pan, honest flavors, and the kind of simplicity that earns its place on a table where a grandmother has already done the real work of the day. Eduardo did not complain. He never does.

Pork Chops Over Rice

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 35 min | Total Time: 45 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 4 bone-in pork loin chops (about 3/4 inch thick)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1 green bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice
• 3 cups water
• Fresh parsley or cilantro for garnish (optional)

Instructions

1. Season the chops. Pat pork chops dry with paper towels. In a small bowl, combine garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, oregano, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Rub mixture evenly over both sides of each chop.
2. Sear the pork. Heat olive oil in a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add pork chops and sear 3–4 minutes per side until golden brown. Transfer chops to a plate and set aside; do not wipe out the pan.
3. Cook the vegetables. Reduce heat to medium. Add sliced onion and bell pepper to the same pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 4–5 minutes until softened and beginning to pick up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.
4. Build the base. Stir in diced tomatoes with their juices and chicken broth. Scrape up any remaining browned bits. Bring to a simmer and season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Cook the rice. Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, combine rice and water with a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover, and cook 18 minutes until water is absorbed and rice is tender. Remove from heat and let stand, covered, 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork.
6. Finish the chops. Nestle the seared pork chops back into the tomato-vegetable mixture. Cover and simmer over low heat for 15–18 minutes, until pork is cooked through and tender and the sauce has thickened slightly.
7. Serve. Spoon a generous bed of rice onto each plate and top with a pork chop and a ladleful of the tomato-vegetable pan sauce. Garnish with fresh parsley or cilantro if desired.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 490 | Protein: 34g | Fat: 14g | Carbs: 55g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 520mg