Smothered Pork Loin - originally posted March 22, 2013

Years ago, I had a friend who made pork chops in mushroom gravy all the time.  It was her specialty.  She poured a can of cream of mushroom soup over some pork chops and baked the whole thing until it was cooked.  When I went to her place for dinner, that's what she served and we all loved it.  Now, when I see a recipe that calls for a can of something soup, I pass it by.  But I was craving pork chops.  Making your own sauce is so easy.  No need for a can of cream of whatever soup.  Make your own sauce, control the salt, sugar, artificial colouring and flavouring and amp the flavour, all in a very easy pan sauce.

Here's what I did;

4 pork chops
1/2 cup flour
2 Tbsp seasoning (my friend makes his own spice blend, so I used that, but use whatever blend you like, or just salt and pepper)
2 Tbsp oil
a handful of mushrooms, sliced
4 nuggets of frozen spinach (I really like the bags of frozen chopped spinach in nugget form-it makes it so easy to toss in soup and sauces)
1 cup of chicken broth
1/2 cup of milk
salt and pepper to taste
Mix the flour and seasoning in a shallow bowl.  Drag the pork loin pieces through the flour so they're lightly coated in it.

Heat a skillet to medium and add the oil, add the pork and cook until golden brown.  Resist the urge to flip them too soon or move them around.  When they're golden brown on both sides, take them out of the pan and set aside.


Add about another bit of oil, about a tablespoon of the seasoned flour and stir into the oil, scraping up the bits on the bottom of the pan.  Toss in the mushrooms and cook until brown.  Add the chicken stock and milk, stirring until it's combined with the flour.  Nestle the pork chops in the gravy and the spinach nuggets in between the pork.  Let it simmer until the gravy is thickened.  About 20 minutes.
This is great over buttered noodles or boiled new potatoes.