Spicy Pork

This is another easy weeknight dish, albeit a pretty rich one so we have tried to cut back on it. The ease of this recipe and the white-wine cream sauce combined with the spicy chops put this high on my list of comfort foods. We came up with it one night by "experimenting", which pretty much consisted of dumping the contents of the spice drawer on a pork chop. The results were surprisingly yummy!

Here we listed the spices that we used, but definitely try whatever works for you. I recommend a base of cracked black pepper, paprika, and a little bit of seasoning salt.

Ingredients
2 thick-cut pork chops
Cracked black pepper
Paprika
Rosemary
Garlic powder
Seasoning salt
Dash of sage
1T butter
1T olive oil
1/2 of a shallot
1/2 c white wine
1/2 c cream
Chick peas (optional)

Coat the chops on both sides with the cracked pepper and paprika. Add the remaining herbs and spices to taste.
Heat the butter and olive oil in a non-stick saucepan over med-hi heat. When the pan is hot add the pork chops and reduce the heat to medium. Sear until each side is browned and the center has just turned from pink to a juicy white. Remove the chops from the pan and cover to keep warm.
In the same pan, heat the shallots until translucent and then add the wine. Heat the wine until boiling, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Reduce the wine to a glaze and then add the cream. Bring to a rolling boil and back down to medium. Simmer for 2-3 minutes, swirling regularly. Optionally, finish by swirling in a thin pat of butter to smooth and enrich the sauce. Just prior to serving, drain any juices that the pork chops have released on their covered plate into the sauce. Yummmmm.

Serving suggestions:
If you would like a starch with this meal we recommend serving it over chick peas rather than pasta for something different and a bit healthier. Just heat up a can (or don't heat, even!) drain and serve the meat over the garbanzos and the sauce over the meat.
Another alternative is to serve the sauce over the garbanzos and the chop over the sauce, which reduces your "sauce intake" just a little.
We have found that these yummy white-wine cream sauces are well-complemented by a plain green veggie like broccoli.

Tonight we had a special treat of a wine, thanks to Raleigh's Seaboard Wine putting a nice bottle on super-sale! We had a 2006 MacRostie Chardonnay, which was so toasty and oaky that I felt guilty sipping it on a weeknight with a regular ol' meal.

Quote of the night: "ROSEMARY, ROSEMARY ROSEMARY!" - Meesh (P.S. Hi Tina!)