Sauteed Pork Chops with Garlic Spinach

I closed on a beautiful home in Davis Island this week. The buyers — a young couple, first-timers — looked at the keys the way I looked at my real estate license in 2012: like they were holding the future in their hands.

Mama called at noon to tell me Aunt Sophia has heartburn again. She reported this with the urgency of a woman who considers every piece of information critical and every phone call an opportunity to also critique my cooking from forty miles away.

Some weeks are ordinary. This was an ordinary week. I sold houses. I cooked dinner. I called Mama. I drove to Tarpon Springs on Sunday. The extraordinary thing about ordinary weeks is that they are the ones you miss most when they are gone.

I roasted a whole branzino with lemon and herbs tonight. The fish was from the market, scored and stuffed with lemon slices and oregano. The kitchen smelled like oregano and summer and I thought: this is what survives. Not the money or the stress or the arguments about phyllo. The food survives. The recipes survive. The love baked into every dish survives.

The house was quiet this evening. I sat at the kitchen table with a glass of wine and the remains of dinner and I thought about all the tables I have sat at — Mama's table in Tarpon Springs, the table in the South Tampa house I lost, the table in the apartment where I started over, this table where I have fed my children for years. Every table is a different chapter. The food connects them all.

The branzino was for one kind of evening — the kind where the kitchen smells like oregano and you pour the wine before the fish is even plated. But most nights, I need something that gets to the table fast, something that earns its place without a lot of ceremony. These sauteed pork chops with garlic spinach are exactly that: a real dinner, cooked by a real person, at the end of a real week. After all those drives to Tarpon Springs and closings and calls from Mama, this is the recipe that keeps me grounded — simple, honest, and deeply satisfying.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

4 bone-in pork chops (about 3/4 inch thick)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
10 oz fresh baby spinach
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Juice of 1/2 lemon

Instructions

Season the chops. Pat the pork chops dry with paper towels. Combine the salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and garlic powder, then rub the mixture evenly over both sides of each chop.
Sear the pork. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add the pork chops and cook undisturbed for 4–5 minutes per side, until a golden crust forms and the internal temperature reaches 145°F. Transfer to a plate and tent loosely with foil.
Build the garlic base. Reduce heat to medium. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and the butter to the same skillet. Once the butter melts, add the sliced garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring frequently, for about 1 minute until fragrant and just beginning to turn golden.
Wilt the spinach. Add the baby spinach in large handfuls, tossing with tongs as each batch wilts down. Continue until all the spinach is incorporated and tender, about 2–3 minutes total. Squeeze the lemon juice over the greens and season with additional salt and pepper to taste.
Rest and serve. Arrange the garlic spinach on a serving platter or individual plates. Nestle the pork chops on top, spooning any resting juices from the plate back over the meat. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Sauteed Pork Chops with Garlic Spinach — When an Ordinary Week Deserves a Real Dinner