Prosciutto-Pepper Pork Chops —rsquo; For the Nights When the Table Is Full

April starts Tuesday. The grass at the edges of the south pasture is showing real green. The cows that have not yet calved are watching the gate to the spring pasture and wanting out. I will move them next weekend if the weather holds. The mud is starting to firm up in the south-facing parts and the worst is, I think, behind us.

Patrick had the appointment Tuesday with the neurologist. Mom drove. The medication has been adjusted again — small changes, the doctor said, the kind of fine-tuning that will be the work of the rest of his life. The doctor also did a cognitive screening — basic, brief, but more than the routine — and Patrick scored within normal range, which is reassuring. The Tuesday confusions of February have not repeated. The doctor is keeping an eye on it. We are watching. The medication will be reviewed again in three months.

I shod four horses across the week. The work is steady. The waiting list has grown to seventeen. I have started referring overflow to the younger guy out of Roundup — he is busy too — and to a third farrier I know in Big Timber who needs the work. The economy of the rural farrier is small and we share. The clients understand or they do not. If they do not, they go elsewhere, and that is fine. There are not many farriers in central Montana. There is room for three of us. There is more demand than three of us can meet.

Tara and Cole came down Saturday for the first time since Maggie was born. Five weeks and a day. Maggie made her first ranch visit. She slept through most of it. She woke up briefly when Mom held her and looked Mom directly in the face for fifteen seconds and made a sound that Mom interpreted as recognition, and that Mom is going to interpret as recognition for the rest of her life regardless of what neuroscience says about five-week-old infant cognition. Patrick held Maggie next. He sat in his chair and Cole placed Maggie in his arms and supported her head until Patrick could adjust his grip — Patrick's tremor was good Saturday but not gone — and Patrick held her for three minutes and looked at her face for the entire three minutes and did not say anything. At the end he handed her back to Cole and said, She has the Gallagher chin. Cole said, You think. Patrick said, I know. The Gallagher chin is a small dimple at the point of the chin that I have, that Cole has, that Patrick has, that Patrick's father had in pictures, that Patrick's grandfather had in the one photo of him we have. Maggie has it. The chin came down four generations to her face. Patrick said, Welcome, Margaret Mae. He said, You are one of us. Tara cried. She has been crying easily in the postpartum weeks but this was not the postpartum cry, this was a different cry. This was the cry of being told the baby had been recognized. Cole was wet around the eyes. Mom was wet around the eyes. I was the only one not crying. I had used my crying for Maggie up two months ago. I am dry-eyed and grateful.

Cooked Saturday a roast leg of lamb for the family meal — Cole and Tara and Maggie staying for dinner — and Sunday a chicken. The lamb was two and a half pounds, butterflied, marinated in olive oil and rosemary and lemon, roasted hot for forty minutes, sliced thin. Patrick had three slices. Cole had four. Tara, who had not eaten lamb in years because Cole does not love it, had three slices and said it was the best lamb she had ever had. The family ate together at the long table. Maggie slept in the bassinet Mom had brought down from the attic last week — the bassinet Cole had slept in as a baby in 1990, the bassinet Patrick had slept in as a baby in 1955, the bassinet that may have been my grandfather's for all I know — and the meal was, for one evening, four generations of Gallagher women in fabric and one infant Gallagher girl in the room and three generations of Gallagher men at the table. The fire helps. The lamb helps. The chin recognition helps most of all.

The lamb was the right meal for that Saturday — the butterflied leg, the rosemary, the long table with four generations in the room — and if I’m being honest, any night like that calls for a centerpiece worth the occasion. Prosciutto-Pepper Pork Chops have become my go-to when the family fills the chairs: the prosciutto crisps up and seasons the meat as it cooks, the peppers go sweet and soft, and the whole thing comes together fast enough that you’re at the table instead of standing over the stove. On a night when Patrick is holding the baby and Cole is wet around the eyes, you want to be at the table.

Prosciutto-Pepper Pork Chops

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 4 bone-in pork chops, about 3/4 inch thick (roughly 8 oz each)
• 4 thin slices prosciutto
• 2 medium red bell peppers, seeded and sliced into strips
• 1 medium yellow bell pepper, seeded and sliced into strips
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped (for garnish)

Instructions

1. Wrap the chops. Pat pork chops dry with paper towels. Season lightly on both sides with salt, black pepper, rosemary, and thyme. Wrap one slice of prosciutto firmly around the edge of each chop, pressing to adhere. The prosciutto acts as a natural casing and will crisp as it cooks.
2. Sear the chops. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add pork chops and sear undisturbed for 3–4 minutes per side until the prosciutto is golden and crisp and the pork has good color. Transfer chops to a plate and set aside.
3. Cook the peppers. Reduce heat to medium and add remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to the same skillet. Add bell pepper strips and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5–6 minutes until softened and beginning to caramelize at the edges. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more, stirring constantly.
4. Deglaze and finish. Pour chicken broth into the skillet and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom. Nestle pork chops back into the skillet on top of the peppers. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover loosely with foil, and cook for 8–10 minutes until pork registers 145°F at the thickest part.
5. Rest and serve. Remove from heat and let chops rest uncovered for 3 minutes. Spoon peppers and pan juices over each chop, garnish with fresh parsley, and serve directly from the skillet at the table.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 340 | Protein: 36g | Fat: 17g | Carbs: 7g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 620mg