When left alone I hit the sauce ...

My wife planned a simple dinner of grilled pork chops and green salad.  Then she left the house on an errand and I got bored.  I thought about a brine marinade, but didn't have the ingredients.  I went to the fridge and saw that we still had plenty of plums.  I guess we didn't make enough cobbler.  The result was a wonderful new pork chop with plum sauce recipe.  I used my wife's homemade oat bread to get to the leftover sauce.  As always, the recipe follows the picture.

Pork Chops with Plum Sauce

Ingredients: 

2 Tablespoons olive oil

6 boneless pork chops 

salt and pepper (to taste)

1 large garlic clove (crushed or minced)

1 medium yellow onion

1/4 Cup soy sauce

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 Tablespoons dark molasses 

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger (full teaspoon if fresh)

3 whole cloves (1/8 teaspoon if using crushed)

5 fresh plums (pitted and coarsely chopped) 

Directions: 

Season pork chops with salt and pepper to taste.  Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and cook the pork chops until browned (approximately 5 minutes per side).  Remove the pork chops and set aside.  

Reduce the heat to medium and add the onions and cook until translucent.  Add garlic and saute until the onions begin to caramelize.  Pour in the soy sauce, red wine vinegar, molasses, ginger, and cloves.  bring sauce to a boil and add plums.  Reduce heat to a simmer and cover until the plums are very soft (approximately 45 minutes).  Stir the mixture occasionally to avoid burning.  If necessary, mash the plums with a potato masher (I didn't need this but my plums were very ripe).  Place pork chops back into the pan and cook until no longer pink in the middle (approximately 10 minutes longer).  The pork chop should read 160 degrees Fahrenheit/70 degrees Celsius with a meat thermometer.