Zucchini Pork Chop Supper

October in the new apartment. The first October that is entirely mine — my kitchen, my schedule, my mornings without the sound of Brian opening a beer at three PM or coming home at midnight. The absence of those sounds is its own kind of music, a silence that plays the melody I have been straining to hear for years. I light candles while I cook, the way I always do in fall, but in this apartment the candlelight catches Fumiko's framed recipe cards and the shadows of her handwriting move on the wall like small prayers written in light.

I made Fumiko's niku dofu — braised tofu and pork with vegetables in a sweet soy broth. It is a weeknight dish, simple and sustaining, the kind of food that fills you without asking anything of you. I made it on Monday night with Miya at the small table doing a puzzle, and the domestic scene was so ordinary and so peaceful that I had to stop stirring and stand still for a moment, because the ordinariness was the miracle. Ordinary was not possible in the old apartment. Ordinary required too much performance. Here, ordinary is the default. Here, ordinary is enough.

The pandemic continues. Oregon is in a cautious reopening. Miya's preschool pod has expanded to six children. The yoga studio is partially open with reduced capacity. I teach three classes a week, masked, distanced, watching my students breathe through fabric and feeling the absurdity of teaching breath work when breath is the danger. But the practice holds. The mat does not care about the pandemic. The breath does not care about the mask. The practice is the practice, and the practice saved my life once and it is saving me again.

I told Barbara about the separation last month. She has called every day since. Every. Day. The calls are fifteen minutes of Barbara talking and me saying "mm-hmm" and the consistency is either smothering or saving and today it is saving. Today I need the voice of a mother who says "you're doing great, sweetheart" even when doing great looks like eating miso soup alone at a table for two in a one-bedroom apartment while the rain falls on a city that is sick and scared. Doing great looks like that. Barbara says so. Barbara is right.

Fumiko’s niku dofu is the dish I reach for when I need food that fills without demanding anything in return — and that Monday in October, standing in my own kitchen with Miya at the puzzle and the candles going, I wanted to stay inside that feeling. This zucchini pork chop supper carries the same spirit: pork and vegetables in a savory, yielding braise, the kind of thing you can make on a weeknight without performing it for anyone. It is Fumiko’s lesson translated into whatever is in the refrigerator. It is ordinary. It is enough.

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

Ingredients

4 bone-in pork loin chops (about 3/4 inch thick)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 medium zucchini, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 can (14.5 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Instructions

Season the chops. Pat pork chops dry and season both sides with salt and pepper.
Brown the pork. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chops and cook 3–4 minutes per side until golden. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
Soften the aromatics. In the same skillet over medium heat, add onion and cook 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly golden.
Add the vegetables and broth. Stir in zucchini, diced tomatoes with their juices, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, sugar, and soy sauce. Stir to combine and bring to a gentle simmer.
Return the pork. Nestle the pork chops back into the skillet, spooning some of the vegetable mixture over the top. Cover and cook over medium-low heat for 15 minutes, or until pork is cooked through and zucchini is tender.
Rest and serve. Let the skillet rest off the heat for 2 minutes before serving. Spoon the vegetables and broth generously over the chops.

Nutrition (per serving)

Zucchini Pork Chop Supper — The Weeknight Dish That Made Ordinary Feel Like Enough