This recipe comes from Mario Batali’s cookbook Molto Italiano. Does anybody remember Mario’s old show on the Food Network (back when the network was actually about cooking)? I have many cooking “mentors” from television and Mario is one of them. I learned so much about the regional nature of Italian cooking from him; and I grew up on the south shore of  Long Island where it seemed like everyone, but me, was Italian. Over the years, he has opened a lot of restaurants, which usually makes me leery, but man, are his good. To speed this recipe up I tweaked the ingredients a bit and skipped the brining process, which I’m sure makes the chops amazing, but it isn’t necessary.

4 bone-in pork chops
salt and pepper
3 TB. olive oil
3 peppers (1 each red, green and yellow), cored, seeded and cut into thin strips*
1 large red onion, sliced*
¼ cup black olives, pitted and chopped*
1 TB. red pepper flakes
1 TB. capers
1 cup dry white wine

* ingredients that can be prepped several days ahead.

Season pork chop with salt and pepper. In a large saute pan, heat the olive oil over high heat until smoking. Add chops to the pan (don’t crowd the pan – you can do 2 chops at a time if you need to) and cook until dark golden brown on the first side, about 7 minutes. Turn over and cook until browned on the second side, about 4 minutes, then transfer to a plate.

Add the peppers, onion, olives, red pepper flakes, and capers and stir with a wooden spoon to loosen the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the wine and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, place the chops in the pepper mixture, and simmer for 10 minutes (the pork should be cooked to 135 degrees F).

Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Green Salad

A basic salad of your favorite greens will nicely complement the pork chops.