Whisk Wednesdays—Côtes de Porc Flamande (Baked Pork Chops with Potatoes and Thyme)

This week's Cordon Bleu recipe is simple meat and potatoes fare. I didn't think I'd ever use "simple" and "Cordon Bleu" in the same sentence, but this is one recipe that is both.

And it's not your typical fried-and-dried pork chops. First, the pork is fried in butter and oil. Searing the meat forms a crust that keeps the flavorful juices inside the meat. But to avoid the dried part of the equation, the meat is finished in the oven layered between thinly sliced potatoes that have been sprinkled with salt, pepper and thyme, drenched in butter and baked until the potatoes are cooked. This Flemish-style rib of pork couldn't be easier or more delicious.

Recipe

Serves 6

6 pork chops, 6-8 ounces each
Salt and freshly ground pepper
¼ pound (4 ounces or 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 pounds potatoes
Several sprigs fresh thyme
You can find the recipe for Côtes de Porc Flamande (Baked Pork Chops with Potatoes and Thyme) in the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home. To see how the rest of the Whisk Wednesdays group fared with their recipe, click here (or check out the sidebar) and then click on each blogger!

Tasting Notes
This was such a simple and delicious meal (and affordable at $2 per plate). It was also quick and easy to make and one that I'll add to our menu rotation at home. Now if only I could get my kids to like meat!

Next Week (January 28)
• Truite aux Amandes (Trout with Almonds) pages 49-50

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Running total: $991.59 + $12.39 = $1,003.98

Butter used so far: 9 pounds

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::Whisk Wednesdays::
We're cooking our way through a cooking school curriculum using the Le Cordon Bleu at Home cookbook. The "classes" are based on the Le Cordon Bleu curriculum found online and used as a guideline. Not all the items in the curriculum are in the cookbook, but most are. Where the items are not in the book, we try to find a suitable substitution. Find out more here.