Smothered Pork Chops...(a play on Pork and Beans)

This has been a crazy week. There has been so much to do but without a structure it's thrown me off my horse a bit. I've gotten to spend time with family, which is always a plus, but my Monday Madness turned into a Tasty Tuesday. Having a structure to my week is really important and pushing even one thing back or out of the way can cause a domino effect. My Wednesday night meeting had to take a back seat to a whole lot of restructuring. On a more positive note I was finally able to fix the "Coming Soon" page on my Website and it was an adventure! Now it has a professional landing page and a second page "About Me", but at this time it's redirect back to this Blogspot. I have to admit while the Website is challenging it is also very exciting.

Last night I decided I needed to center myself around a table of good food and family. I invited my Sissie-in-law and her boyfriend over to eat and laugh with us. Earlier in the day I had made a batch of garbanzo beans, fresh tomatoes, garlic and green olives (recipe found in "You say Chickpea, I say Garbanzo bean.) it was meant for the baby and I to snack on for a couple days. It  was decided that it would be a great side to dinner so I added a can of white beans so there was enough for the four of us (Ty excluded, he dislikes Beans with a vengeance). The carrot salad from last week sounded like a great addition as well. Dinner turned into a fancy Pork and Beans, which was an observation once we sat that was more funny than literal. I had bought fresh Oaxaca Cream (Sour Cream) from a Mexican market near my house last Sunday that I knew I was going to use for this very dish. This smothered pork, I had many times growing up but had never really made on my own or atleast this successful anyway. I also reduced the pnion's in a Cabernet Ty bought for me last week, which he picked out very well, and I was pleasantly surprised with it. The Wine was not a part of the recipe from when I was a kid which is a perfect example of the method to my madness.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 45 minutes
Servings: 4
Price for WHOLE dinner: about $15.00

Ingredients:

4 bone-in pork chops, trim fat
3 Tbs. butter, to fry pork chops
2 1/2 cups onion sliced into rings
2 cups stock or broth, I used chicken
2 Tbs. olive oil
1/4 cup Cabernet Sauvignon
16 oz. Oaxaca Cream (Sour Cream)
salt and sepper
sprinkle of parsley flake

Directions: Salt and pepper both sides of the pork chops' and fry on both sides in butter. I did two at a time as to not crowd the pan and to achieve browning, which is integral for the onions and basis for the sauce. Make sure they are cooked all the way through and set the pork aside to finish the sauce.

This is the wine I used to deglaze my onions. It has a great flavor for savory meals although you could use any white or red wine that isn't sweet. I used red because it's what I had.

Saute your onions in olive oil and add 1 cup of the stock once they start cooking down. When they soak up a majority of the stock, which should take about 15 minutes, add the wine and let it cook down for about 5 minutes on med/high. Remember to also salt the onions and add the parsley flake at this point.

Before adding the cream use the remaining cup of stock and simmer for about 5-7 minutes.

 Add the cream in all at once and mix with a whisk to incorporate quickly, turn the heat down to Low/Med so you don't burn the cream or break it down. Salt and Pepper again if needed. Cook for an additional 5 or so minutes and then remove from the heat.

I put the pork chops in the Sauce and submerged them to soak while I got everything to the table. All the juice that collects on the plate where they are resting adds a great dimension to the sauce.

It was so awesome it was hard for us to stop eating! I sadly have to admit we used almost a whole loaf of white bread to soak up the sauce...shhhhh...secrets! This will surely be a favorite in any household!

ENJOY!