Classic 70s food. Mom used to make this in an electric frying pan…I mean who has one of those things anymore? The original had the vegetables pretty lightly cooked, but I caramelize the crap out of everything but the tomatoes. It’s delicious, and perhaps a little rough on the cardiac system. The proportions are not precise AT ALL, which is why I’ve omitted the amounts of everything.

pork chops, bone in

yellow mustard

brown sugar

tomato

mushrooms, cleaned and quartered

green peppers, sliced

zucchini, sliced

white onion, sliced

spaghetti

cream, parmesean, poppy seeds, butter

shredded Swiss cheese

Roll chops in mustard, then in brown sugar. Saute in oil until mostly cooked. You just want them browned, the oven can do the heavy lifting here. Once they are browned, stick them in the oven at 250F or so, and tent with a bit of foil.

Toss the vegetables into the drippings and do one of two things: Cook them all the way through only, which involves tossing them in in reverse order of how long it takes for them to cook. Start with the zucchini, onion, and mushrooms, then do the green pepper and end with the tomatoes. OR, everything goes in except the tomatoes, cook them until they are pretty broken down, about 15 minutes over low heat. At some point, pull out the tented pork chops, and turn the oven up to BROIL.

While the vegetables are doing their thing, boil water and cook pasta. After you drop the pasta, melt some butter in yet ANOTHER pan (everything in your kitchen will be dirty by the end of this) and add cream to make a simple white sauce. Add some parmesean, poppy seeds, and salt if needed, to taste. Drain pasta and add to sauce. It should be fairly dry.

Assembly: do a pile of the pasta. Stick a pork chop on top at a sort of jaunty angle. Top this with the vegetable and then cover the whole mess with a bunch of shredded Swiss cheese. Broil until cheese is melted, then transfer to regular plates, you’ve probably done this in a broiling pan or similar. Yeah BABY!