PORK AU VIN

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.

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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.