Put a Lid On It

Well folks, it's 2012. Yes, almost March, at that, but things have been ridiculously crazy with just about everything. Between the chicken nuggets (the 73 school aged childcare ones, not my own-the reason they got titled the nuggets in the first place to avoid any of that confusion), the EMT drumsticks (that was to be able to differentiate between the young kids and the can't quite call them grownups even though some of them are almost 30!) finishing their class amidst the start of the new curriculum, and being a real-life grownup working as a paramedic...the blog has been on pause.

But it's back to cooking, and my most recent adventure was defeating the always scary pork chop. Until yesterday, I've never really had a pork chop that tasted like, well, pork. My father's go-to meal was a one pot concoction of pork chops, sauerkraut with onions, and roasted potatoes baked to an oblivion until the pork chops could have been confused with shoe leather. He got points for trying, but I've always been nervous to try to cook them myself. Last year, I wrote a blog about grilling them, and they turned out juicy but not quite as tender as I had hoped (though if I'm going to go out on a limb and toot my own horn, the grill marks were picture perfect if nothing else). But with preparations for participating in barbecue competitions under way and fire extinguisher in hand, I'm hellbent of perfecting ways to stew, smoke, roast, braise, boil, broil, grill and saute every part of the once considered evil oinker that got us into hot water on the First Annual Halloween Birthday Celebratory Snow Pig weekend this past October (the only good thing that came of it was the meat was used in a chili cookoff where Don placed 2nd overall! Congrats btw)

It was with great success that these humble little pieces of porcine transformed into a tender entree that left many texting me, "why didn't you invite me over!?" as soon as the pic went up on fB. After almost 48 hours straight of being awake, it occurred to me that the answer to this was in front of me all along. Give it a little wine, and put a lid on it. Many would say that is a good piece of general advice, but particularly in this case where a few simple ingredients meshed together to form an aromatic balance of tart, sweet, and spicy flavors pulled together by a couple tablespoons of organic cranberry chutney that I purchased at Whole Foods.

Recipe of the day: Stovetop Chops with Sweet-Spiced Demi-glace
4 thin cut pork chops
2 tbsp (total) olive oil
4 tbsp (total) dijon mustard
salt and pepper
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 onion, chopped
2 tbsp cranberry chutney-use canned jellied cranberry sauce if you don't have any

Place the pork chops in a ziploc bag with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 2 tablespoons Djjon mustard, and generous amounts of salt and pepper to season. Seal bag and squish to coat. Resist the temptation to beat up the pork chops as they will become too tough.

In a nonstick pan over medium high heat, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a pan until it's almost smoking. (If the oil starts to smoke, your food will taste burnt so be sure to keep an eye on it). Gently place the pork chops in the hot pan.

After about 4-5 minutes, flip them over...

...and cook for another 4 minutes. If they are not completely cooked through, that's okay. Take them out of the pan anyway. In the same pan, add the chopped onions and use a silicone spatula to pull up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. There should be enough oil left in the pan to cook the onions, but use your judgement to add more if necessary. Cook the onions over medium heat until they are browned (not black) over medium heat, which should take about 7-8 minutes. Add in the wine, turn the heat back to medium high and using a whisk to stir the sauce continuously add in the mustard as well. Continue to whisk until the mustard dissolves completely. (If you skip this step, you will have giant bits of mustard floating throughout and I doubt your hungry eaters will find that too appealing). Add in the cranberry chutney, stir until dissolved, then add your pork chops back in.

This is where the magic is begins...place a lid on the pan and cook until steaming, about 3-4 minutes. This will create a quick-braise type of cooking that makes the meat fork tender. Remove the lid and serve hot. Mashed potatoes and applesauce went with the sauce beautifully.