Pork Chops (for the Peas!)

Pork Chops with Mustard Sauce

This is one of my all time favorites.  It is so simple and the taste is "candlelight dinner" delish!  It's also great because it's a one-pan meal, perfect for a week day too.

INGREDIENTS:
2 Boneless pork chops; about 1" thick
1/4 cup all purpose flour
Salt, Pepper & pinch of cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Tbls extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
3/4 cup half & half
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
1 Tbsp yellow mustard
2 Tbsp stone ground mustard




DIRECTIONS:


(1)  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Season the pork chops with salt and pepper on both sides.  Put the flour in a flat bowl and season it with salt pepper and a pinch of cayenne.

(2)  Lightly dredge the pork chops in the flour mixture; shake off the excess flour - if you don't do this, it will clump, and you will end up with fried (or possibly burned) bits on the edges instead of a nice, crispy coating.  

(3)  put the butter and olive oil in a skillet over medium heat  a non-stick skillet is fine, but if you use something that is NOT 

non-stick, you will get some really yummy "bits" to scrape up when you deglaze the pan with the wine, making your sauce even more rich).  When it's all melted, add the pork chops and cook on all sides till they're golden - even brown the edges to seal in the juices - about 4-5 minutes on each side.  

Resist the temptation to check them every two minutes - a crust is forming.  It's"carmelization", and if you lift them off the hot surface you'll break the process and then it's a complete gooey mess.  DON'T. TOUCH. IT.

Transfer the chops to a foil-lined baking pan and place in the oven.

(4)  Discard the fat from the pan and add the wine.  Scrape up the browned bits with a wooden spoon.  Increase the heat to medium and boil until the wine is reduced to about 2 Tbsp (about 3 minutes).  You'll notice that the wine with the scraped bits turns to a pretty honey color - like this:      

(5) Mix the three mustards together in a small bowl.  

(6)  Stir the half and half, chicken stock and mustard into the wine and boil until reduced to a saucy consistency - it should cover the back of a metal spoon well - maybe about 5 minutes.  Taste and season with salt and pepper if desired.

(7)  By now your pork chops should have cooked in the oven for about 8-10 minutes.  Check the pork by slicing it in the center.  While you don't want running pink juices, pork that's a little pink is ok - it will continue to cook while it's sitting.  

Return the pork chops & their juices to the mustard mixture and turn them to coat in the pan. 

(8)  Remove the pork, slice into medallions and plate.  Drizzle a little (`1 Tbsp) of the mustard mixture over the sliced pork and put the rest in a dipping bowl.