Simple Baked Pork Chops with Tomatoes and Onions

So, on a whim I picked up some pork chops at the grocers this week. I don't actually like pork chops, and as a general rule I don't eat pork, however they were cheap and I'd been discussing them earlier in the week so I gave into temptation.  Of course, then I was faced with the decision of what to do with them. I don't like pork chops, so it would have to be good.

830 on Friday night rolled around and I still hadn't made up my mind so I scoured the internet and most of the recipes for baked pork chops took an hour, and then I found this recipe for Pork Chops with Baked Apples. of course, I only had one apple so this recipe simply wouldn't do, but I decided to take the principle and run with it. I was pretty well satisfied, and the premise can be fairly loosely adjusted to fit whatever you have lying around.

This was so easy, and only took me about 20 minutes in total to prepare.

Simple Baked Pork Chops with Tomatoes and Onions
3 Pork Chops
1 Brown Onion
2 Vine Tomatoes*
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
~2 T Brown Sugar
Salt & Pepper
Fresh Chives

1. Preheat oven to 210C (200C fan forced)/400F.
2. Score fat on the side of the pork chops every 2-3cm.
3. Sprinkle brown sugar, salt and pepper on both sides of pork chops.
4. Heat oil in a pan.
5. Brown pork chops 2-3 minutes per side.
6. Slice 1 onion into 1/2cm rings (keep together), place in bottom of oven proof dish.
7. Slice tomatoes into 1/2-1cm slices, place on top of onions.
8. Sprinkle with fresh chives (fresh rosemary would also be good) and balsamic vinegar.
9. Place pork chops on top of onions and tomatoes and bake for ~10 minutes.

I served this with steamed frozen peas and corn, a lazy but delicious and well rounded meal. Mashed or baked potatoes would be a good side for this too, if you were so inclined.

Boyfriend claimed the pork chops were a bit tough, but this is what I'm used to. Aren't pork chops always tough? So, perhaps sear them for a shorter period of time.  Either way *I* enjoyed it, and I don't even like pork chops.  I think that in terms of seasoning you could use just about anything, garlic would be a great addition to the bake, or rosemary instead of chives, anything else you have on hand.  I cooked this in a a pyrex pie dish, but the original recipe called for a baking dish without wax paper. I imagine a casserole dish would be great as well. And you can up the recipe as much as you want without adjusting the cooking times as long as the pork chops sit in a single layer in your dish.

Sorry there's no picture of the finished product, but I was hungry!

Enjoy!

PS - Last night, I went to turn on the light over our stove, since the overhead light in the kitchen doesn't work, and it blew the lightbulb AND the fuse for the kitchen.  I found out tonight while searing the pork chops that it also blew the motor on the fan over the stove. Did you know if your pan is sufficiently hot, pork chops will smoke when you sear them?  Yeah.  That was fun.