Tender Pork Chops with Apples & Onions and Garlic-Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

from My Kitchen Cafe

Onion and Apple Pork Chops

4 bone-in pork chops (at least 1/2-inch thick)
2-3 granny smith apples (Or any baking apple), peeled and sliced about 1/4-inch thick
1-2 yellow onions, sliced
1/3 cup brown sugar

Salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 325℉. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking dish.

2. Place the onion slices in an even layer over the bottom of the dish. Top the onion slices with the apple slices. Sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the apples and onions.

3. Season the pork chops generously on both sides with salt and pepper. Arrange the pork chops in a single layer on top of the apples and onions.

4. Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake for three hours. Do not open the oven and lift the foil – the pork chops, apples and onions need to be tightly covered the whole time to not dry out.

Serve each pork chop with Parmesan Mashed potatoes and topped with the apples and onions.

Garlic-Parmesan Mashed Potatoes

5 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, peeled, rinsed and diced
2 teaspoons salt

1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
4 TBS butter
¾ cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste
4-5 cloves roasted garlic, smashed ** see note

1. In a large pot, place the potatoes and cover with water. Add the salt.

2. Bring to a boil, and cook the potatoes until tender (about 15 minutes).

3. Drain and return to the hot pot. Begin mashing the potatoes. Add the butter and mash in to the potatoes. Add the milk, cheese, smashed roasted garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Mash until the potatoes are smooth. Serve immediately.

This makes enough mashed potatoes for 7-10

**Note: To roast the garlic trim the pointy end off a head of garlic, place sprout-side down on a piece of aluminum foil and drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil, fold sides of foil up to enclose the garlic completely and cook at 350 degree for 20 minutes, or until the garlic is tender; the cloves squeeze right out of their skins when they are ready. Smash the garlic so you don't have big clumps in the potatoes.