Last night I was going to make a simple dish of pork chops in wine, from a Greek cookbook I have. Then I ended up chatting with a girlfriend who wanted to make coq au vin and I ended up sharing my recipe, and ended up noting that I had the ingredients to make it myself – but with pork chops. So instead of coq au vin, I made pork au vin. It made enough for two suppers, with tender moist chops and a kick ass gravy.
Being a gravy nut, I did thicken with a touch of flour, but if you prefer just a bit of thin sauce, feel free to omit that step. For the all purpose rub mentioned in the recipe, I used my homemade rub, that I always have on hand.
Pork Au Vin
Ingredients
- 4 large pork chops
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 4 pieces thick cut bacon sliced into 1 inch pieces
- 1 onion chopped small
- 1 pint of mushrooms sliced
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano chopped
- 1/2 tablespoon dried basil
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- All purpose rub
- Salt and pepper to season
- 2 cups white wine ex. sauvignon blanc
- 5 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup cream
- Olive oil for cooking
Instructions
- Season each side of the chops with some of the all purpose rub and salt and pepper.
- Render down the bacon in a cast iron pan, removing from the pan with a slotted spoon, scoop into a medium sized bowl.
- Add the onions, sliced mushrooms, lemon zest, dried oregano and dried basil, season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle with some of the rub, tossing to coat. (Add a bit of olive oil to the pan if needed.)
- When the onions have softened and the mushrooms have shrunk a bit, remove with a slotted spoon and place into the bowl.
- Add the fresh oregano, then mix the bacon and onion mixture and place half the mix into the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
- Heat a bit of olive oil in the pan, and brown the chops, a few minutes on each side.
- Remove from the pan, and place in one layer, in the 9x13 pan.
- Top with the other half of remaining onion mix.
- Deglaze the pan with the juice of the lemon and a slash of the wine.
- Add the rest of the wine and the garlic and bring to a boil. Let reduce slightly.
- Pour over the chops, set the pan aside (don't wash it quite yet!)
- Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F.
- Remove the chops from the pan, pour the remaining liquid back into the frying pan used earlier.
- Bring the mixture to a light boil, then add the cream.
- Let reduce slightly.
- At this point you can add a tiny bit of flour (mixed with some cold water) and thicken the mixture, or pour over the chops and serve.
If you like this recipe, please share!
PORK AU VIN