Pork Spaghetti Sauce

[Soma]

or maybe I should just call it 'Spaghetti Sauce with pork added'.

I am making this now. I really feel like roasting the meat and all the veggies together, then puree the entire thing in my food processor.

On bottom, I put a can of diced tomatoes, then lay sliced red onions, sliced green peppers, whole garlic cloves, 2 cut celery stalks and several whole mushrooms atop. Drizzled more olive oil over it all. Roast at 400 (or should this be 450?) degrees for 30 minutes.

AM I forgetting anything? Will 30 mins be enough to cook 4 fatty pork chops?

Stay tuned. It's now 3:40PM and guests are coming at 6.

[Rocklobster]

I think you should leave it in at least an hour. Just to be sure.

[Claire]

Although people are eating more rare pork these days (to include me), I'd only do a half-hour if you brown the chops at a high heat in a skillet before starting the process. Then, a half hour should be OK. Of course, what am I missing? How thick are they? Still, if you sear them in a skillet, then proceed, this might be OK.

[buckytom]

pork and tomato sauce is a great combo.

since you're using chops which are usually pretty lean, there's a few ways you can do them.

make the sauce first , then seperately brown the chops either by pan frying or grilling (but not cooked through), then finish them for just 10 minutes or so in the sauce. they'll still he tender and moist, and the sauce will ick up a little of the chop flavour. i've found this is the best method for an expensive cut of meat like a veal chop. but it works for pork, too.

the opposite end of the spectrum is to brown the pork chops well, then cook them a fairly long time in the sauce until the meat starts to seperate from the bone. they'll be tender in a different way than the first; more falling spart, but the meat itself will be a bit dry. the now heavily flavoured sauce will make up for that.

unless you're doing the first method,i prefer to use a fattier cut of pork like rib ends, sirloin ends, shoulder chops, or neck bones. after browning, you cook them in the sauce until extremely tender, and the bits of fat keep them moist and flavourful much like the fatty cut of pork shoulder used for brasciole when making sunday gravy (meatballs, sausage, brasciole, and veggies cooked for hours in tomato sauce).

hth.

[Soma]

Thank you Rocklobster, Claire, buckytom...all good suggestions indeed!

I roasted the chops atop a can of diced tomatoes, then layered slices of red onion, whole garlic cloves, celery sticks (which I removed and discarded later), half a green pepper (leftover in fridge), whole mushrooms- halved, 2 large carrots.

The chops were very tender after an hour. I diced these, removing bones and fat, then threw the entire mess into my fp, blended it to a very thick sauce. To this I added 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1 Tbsp honey (cuz DH didn't like the bitterness of some herbs), s&p, a dash of worcestershire sauce. (cuz I like it's taste. My father finds it too 'hot'....(!!!?)

Best spag sauce I ever made! The guests had second helpings, which these people never usually do!