Pork Chops Champvallon style

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 4 people, you will need:

• 1 1 kg 500 g potatoes
• 2 500 g onion
• 3 50 g butter
• 4 4 porks chops
• 5 3 tablespoons oil
• 6 2 bayleaves
• 7 1 garlic clove
• 8 1 sprig thyme
• 9 1 sprig parsley
• 10 200 ml vegetable stock
• 11 Salt
• 12 Pepper
• Total weight: 2,910 grams

Times:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
50 min.	2 hours 25 min.	3 hours 8 min.

Step by step recipe

1	Peel the potatoes, cut them into strips, a mandolin is ideal for this, then wash and dry them. Reserve.
2	Prepare 500 g onion, slice them finely (again, the mandolin is very handy). Reserve.
3	In a small saucepan over low heat, melt 50 g butter, then turn off the heat and let it stand.
4	Add salt and pepper to each side 4 porks chops.
5	In a frying pan over high heat, pour 3 tablespoons oil and when it is hot, place the chops.
6	Just brown them on each side, then set aside on a plate.
7	Lower the heat, and in the same pan without cleaning it, add 3 tablespoons oil again, then the minced onion, 2 bayleaves, 1 garlic clove, 1 sprig thyme, salt and pepper.
8	Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are cooked through and a little coloured. Remove and discard bay leaves, garlic clove and thyme sprig. Preheat your oven to 180°C (360°F).
9	Pour the potato slices into a bowl, put 3 or 4 tablespoons aside, and sprinkle the rest with 3/4 of the melted butter, salt and mix well. Add the cooked onions, mix again.
10	Pour half of the mixture into a large ovenproof pan, sprinkle with chopped parsley.
11	Place the chops on top, pour the cooking juices that have formed on the plate, and add a little parsley.
12	Pour in the other half of the potatoes, then 200 ml vegetable stock.
13	Cover and bake for 1 hour.
14	At the end of this time, take the pan out of the oven, uncover.
15	Place the remaining raw potatoes on top, season with salt and brush with the remaining melted butter (re-melt if necessary).
16	Return to the oven, uncovered this time, for an additional 1 hour of cooking.
17	Your Champvallon chops are ready, enjoy with a pinch of chopped parsley.

Remarks

You can very easily replace the pork by lamb, it is even the original recipe which would be related to Mrs. De Champvallon, one of the competitors of Mrs. de Maintenon mistress then wife of King Louis XIV. Mme de Champvallon had tried with this recipe to seduce the king, who was said to be a great lover of lamb chops.
You can also replace the onions with shallots, or make a mixture of the two.
No vegetable stock on hand? Replace it with chicken stock.

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