Pork Chop Supper — The Kitchen Holds What the Week Cannot

The world has become smaller this year. Mamma is gone. The first Sven is gone. The kitchen holds them both — Mamma in the bread pans on the shelf, the wooden spoon worn smooth where her hand held it for sixty years, the recipe cards in her tiny European hand; the first Sven in the worn spot on the floor under the dining room table where he slept for fourteen years, in the chewed corner of the rocking chair he could never resist, in the absence of barking when the doorbell rings. I am sixty-something and orphaned in the new way: the parental generation gone, the adult generation in charge. Sophie called. Her voice was thick. She said she was sorry about Mamma. She said she had been trying to type a text for an hour and could not. She called instead. We did not say much. We did not need to. Sophie has been to enough funerals at this point to know that the calls after are not for words but for the audible presence of a person on the other end of the line. The presence is the love. The presence is the bridge. The new Sven (Sven the Second) is six months old now. He chewed through my favorite shoe. He jumped on the kitchen counter. He is the worst-behaved dog Duluth has ever produced. I love him completely. He has the energy of a small storm. He is the right thing for the kitchen right now. The first Sven was a steady ocean. This Sven is a storm. Both are necessary in their seasons. Anna brought me a puppy. A golden retriever from the same Two Harbors breeder where Paul and I got the first Sven. I told her I did not want another dog. I held the puppy within thirty seconds. His name is Sven. Sven the Second. The puppy is enormous in his enthusiasm and tiny in his actual size. He is exactly what the kitchen needs right now. I cooked Onion soup with cheese toast this week. Onions caramelized slowly in butter for an hour. Beef stock, splash of brandy, thyme, bay. Topped with toasted baguette and gruyère, broiled until bubbling. The bowl is hot. The cheese pulls. The week is held. The Damiano Center on Thursday. Gerald told me a long story about a bus accident he had survived in 1988 in Duluth. He had not told me before. He has been telling me more stories lately. I am the audience he has been gathering, slowly, over years. I listen. I do not interrupt. The stories are the gift he is giving. Pappa would have liked this week. The fish were biting. The weather was clear. The Vikings won. He would have approved of all three. Pappa was a man of small approvals — he did not say much, but he made a small grunt of acknowledgment when something was right, and the grunt was the highest praise he gave. I miss the grunt. I miss being given the grunt. It is enough. It has to be. And on a morning like this, with the lake doing what the lake does and the dog at my feet and the bread on the counter and the kitchen warm enough to live in, it is. It is enough.

The onion soup did its work this week — it always does — but the dish I keep coming back to when the grief is older and quieter, when the dog is finally asleep and the kitchen has gone warm and still, is the Pork Chop Supper. It asks almost nothing of you. You lay the chops in the pan, you tuck the potatoes and onions around them, you let the oven do what ovens do best: hold things steady at the right temperature until they are ready. Mamma made a version of this. The first Sven always woke up for it. Sven the Second, I’m learning, is no different.

Pork Chop Supper

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 55 min | Total Time: 1 hr 10 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 4 bone-in pork loin chops (about 3/4 inch thick, 6–7 oz each)
• 1 1/2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 1 large yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can (10.5 oz) condensed cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary, crumbled
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• Salt and black pepper, to taste
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Fresh parsley, chopped, for serving

Instructions

1. Preheat. Heat your oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.
2. Brown the chops. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the pork chops generously on both sides with salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. Sear for 2–3 minutes per side until golden brown. They don’t need to be cooked through — the oven will finish them. Set aside.
3. Layer the vegetables. Arrange the sliced potatoes in an even layer in the prepared baking dish. Scatter the sliced onions and minced garlic over the top. Season lightly with salt, pepper, and half the thyme and rosemary.
4. Make the sauce. In a small bowl, whisk together the cream of mushroom soup and chicken broth until smooth. Pour evenly over the potatoes and onions.
5. Add the chops. Nestle the seared pork chops on top of the vegetable layer. Sprinkle with the remaining thyme and rosemary.
6. Cover and bake. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake an uncovered 12–15 minutes more, until the potatoes are tender and the chops register 145°F on an instant-read thermometer.
7. Rest and serve. Let the dish rest for 5 minutes before serving. Scatter fresh parsley over the top. Serve directly from the baking dish.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 420 | Protein: 36g | Fat: 14g | Carbs: 34g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 610mg