Balsamic Roasted Pork and Vegetables

Another long week down in the books. Woooo. Between work, getting our engagement/Save-The-Date pictures done, and finding a wedding venue, this weekend has been a welcome relief. Oh, yeah, here’s how those pictures turned out:

Love them! We’re using a painted pumpkin picture for our Save the Date flyers. I can’t wait.

After our shoot, we decided to get some brunch at R&J Supper Club downtown. It’s a cute little lounge that is decked out in a 50’s style. They have amazing drinks and a wonderful, retro menu (think fancy pork n’ beans, ‘lil weenies, and croque monsieurs). Since it was brunch, we slurped down a few mimosas and I had their incredible lox bagel.

Who knew that cucumber would work so well on lox? And that smokey paprika was out of this world.

After this long week, Rob thankfully had Friday off. We decided to go down to the Plaza District to eat some ramen at Goro Ramen + Izakaya and check out the “Live on the Plaza” festival they have once a month. All of the shops stay open late during LOTP, and a bunch of bands and musicians stake out corners and play. It’s fun!

After ramen, our bellies were super full. We walked around the plaza and checked out all of the different shops. When we were done, we couldn’t just walk past pie junkie without going inside. So—of course—we had our pie and ate it, too.

Pie Junkie’s banana cream pie is sinful, just sinful. The best banana cream pie I have ever eaten, hands down. Rob had this utterly luscious peanut butter pie, and there’s only about 15 other pies that I need to try.

I’ve still managed to find time to cook this weekend, and have quite a few good recipes up my sleeve to post at a later date. We’ll start off with this *sorta* sheet-pan dinner that was so good, I ate it for lunch and dinner. You heard that right. I made it a multiple meal within a day.

Balsamic Roasted Pork and Vegetables

• Servings: 4
• Time: 40 mins
• Difficulty: Easy
• Print

A sheet pan dinner with pork chops and veggies tossed in a balsamic glaze and topped with Gorgonzola cheese.

Ingredients

• 4 center-cut, boneless pork chops (slightly thick)
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup walnut oil or olive oil, divided
• 1 pound small red potatoes, quartered
• 3 TBS. balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp. tomato paste
• 2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 red onion, peeled and cut into wedges
• 8 oz. baby portobello mushrooms, quartered
• 1 TBS. dried parsley
• 1/2 cup Gorgonzola cheese, crumbled

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Heat 1 TBS. oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Sprinkle pork chops with salt and pepper on both sides. Add chops to the skillet and cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned. Transfer to a plate (pork will not be cooked through).
2. In same skillet, add potatoes. Cook for about 3-4 minutes. Remove pan from heat.
3. In a large bowl, combine 2 TBS. oil, all of the vinegar, and tomato paste. Whisk together until well combined. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Add thyme, onion, potatoes and mushrooms to bowl and toss to coat. Lay out veggies on a large baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes or until potatoes are tender and slightly crisp. Arrange pork chops over warm veggies and continue baking for 10 minutes, or until a meat thermometer registers 145 degrees. Remove pork from pan and sprinkle Gorgonzola over veggies. Serve pork with veggies and crumbles cheese, sprinkle balsamic vinegar over the top.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Heat 1 TBS. olive oil over medium high heat in a large skillet. Sprinkle salt and pepper over both sides of pork chops and then add to skillet. Cook for 3 minutes per side until pork is browned (but not cooked through). Transfer to a plate.

Add potatoes to skillet and cook for about 2 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine 2 TBS. olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and tomato paste.

Season balsamic mixture with salt and pepper. Add onion, thyme, potatoes and mushrooms to bowl and toss to coat.

Add veggies to a large baking sheet and roast for about 25 minutes or until potatoes are tender and slightly crisp.

Add pork chops to the top of the veggies and continue baking for 10 minutes, or until a meat thermometer reads 145 degrees. Remove pork and sprinkle Gorgonzola over veggies.

Serve pork alongside the veggies, sprinkle with more Gorgonzola if needed. Drizzle balsamic vinegar over pork and sprinkle with parsley.