Saturday, February 27, 2010

Skillet Pork Chop Stroganoff

Is anyone else a fan of The Next Food Network Star? I felt like a contestant this week when wine won as the featured ingredient. Mentally, I ran to the possible ingredients I could use. The only dish I make with wine on a regular basis is German red cabbage which didn't seem quite right. Salmon stood out. I'm not sure why, but salmon just seems so right with white wine. I bought a lovely piece of salmon and, for once, I was ahead of the game. And then I got up on Thursday morning and there was my salmon. Riley and I had a major cyber mind-merge and produced virtually the same dish. No kidding -- almost exactly the same!

So I turned to chicken breast. Sounded good. Chicken breast with white wine and asparagus over pasta. Good thing I'm not a The Next Food Network Star contestant. I would have been eliminated for that dish! At this point, I was beginning to think I didn't much care for cooking with wine and it might be more productive to pour myself a glass and watch the Olympics.

Instead, I forged ahead. You all thought I would make another reduction, right? Hah! I did. I have a lovely bottle of mango juice that I need to use, so I mixed one cup of mango juice with one cup of white wine and let it reduce. Now that was good! But other than pound cake or ice cream, I haven't really figured out where I can use it.

So I pulled two thick pork chops out of the freezer to thaw. In The Diva Paints the Town, Sophie uses one of my favorite mixes of spices to brine pork. The great thing about brining pork chops is that they really only need to marinate about 30 minutes to an hour, which makes it a good weeknight I-didn't-plan-ahead dish. But this time, I added wine and made a sauce.


Sophie's Brine Spice Mix

1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon Hungarian sweet paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons dried rosemary
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup white wine

Place all the spices in a zip top bag and mush them together. (Mush is a fancy cooking term.) Add the olive oil and the wine, and mush again. Slide in the pork chops, zip the bag, and massage a bit until they're covered with the brine. Store in refrigerator 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Note: This is a delicious brine even without the wine. It's great even without the Stroganoff Sauce below and works well on grilled meat, too.




Skillet Pork Chop Stroganoff



2 tablespoons olive oil
2 thick cut pork chops
3/4 cup white wine
1 cup chicken broth
2 teaspoons white balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon paprika
8 ounces white button mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon flour
1/4 cup sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a skillet. Add the pork chops and brown on both sides. Add the wine, broth, vinegar, and paprika. Add the mushrooms and bring to a gentle simmer. Cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of your chops. After four minutes, I flipped my chops and cooked them another four minutes. Do not overcook them! When done, remove the chops from the pan and set aside.

Scoop a little bit of the liquid into a measuring cup and mix in the flour with a fork or mini-whisk so there are no lumps. Pour into the pan and mix. Bring to a gentle boil and cook until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the sour cream. Add salt and pepper to taste.

ENJOY!



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AND

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13 comments:

  1. Wow, this looks great. Glad the salmon recipe was taken earlier by Riley so you had to come up with this one.

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  2. Oh NOOOO!!! And you didn't even tell you I'd messed you up! Sigh. That's too funny that we had the same dish. Great minds thinking alike! But then you got to eat salmon, so I guess it wasn't too bad. :)

    I love THIS recipe, though. And I've been looking for a new way to prepare pork. Perfect!

    Riley/Elizabeth
    Mystery Writing is Murder

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  3. I just read through the recipe and I am actually salivating for this one. Hmmm, I think there are a couple of pork chops in the freezer. Oh, honey... what do you want for dinner? Feel like pork chops? He will be eating these chops very soon!

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  4. Krista, I love this recipe. I'm going to make it tonight. Sounds absolutely fabulous. The photo is beautiful. I love how flexible you were!!! Kudos.
    ~Avery

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  5. Now I have to go out and buy pork chops! And love the "mush."

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  6. LOL! Krista, you are our blog diva, no doubt. No wonder that series is so perfectly written. I laughed at your "have a glass and watch the Olympics" as well as your use of the sophisticated term "mush". But even better than that, your recipe sounds delish and I can't wait to try it! Thanks for brightening a deadline crunch Saturday for me!

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  7. mmmm, sounds delicious! I'm getting hungry. (I love German red cabbage, too!) Funny pork chop story--my bil hates pork chops so whenever he sees my sister get them out of the freezer, he suggests going out to eat. She's kept those pork chops on hand for YEARS now and everytime she wants to go out, all she has to do is put them out on the counter to defrost!

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  8. LOL, Mason! The salmon is very good, too.

    Elizabeth, the salmon was so good that I made it for lunch today without the wine. Did I mention that it's my cat's favorite? He loves to eat the skin and the dark meat.

    Here's a cyber napkin for that drool, Kaye. Actually, I was surprised by how much it tasted like Stroganoff. I haven't made that in years but I always liked it. This was much easier to make.

    Avery, I hope you like it. The spice mix is very versatile and really perks up meats. I've used it on chicken, too.

    Sheila, it's just like you to like "mush" as a technical term! LOL!

    Perfectly written? Okay, I'm laughing a lot today. Thanks, Jenn! You know there is another technical word that's very similar -- smush. Often used in recipes involving bananas.

    Peg, that's hilarious! Everyone needs a trick like that. What a cute story!

    ~ Krista

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  9. Thanks for providing my dinner recipe for tonight. Was wondering what to have (not chicken AGAIN) and this looks perfect. Thanks,
    Tiger

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  10. I hope you like it, Tiger!

    Juju, I use Hungarian Paprika a lot. It's amazing what a difference it makes.

    ~ Krista

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  11. I'd like to try that recipe sometime - to eat it, not cook it - it looks delicious!

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  12. Not entering the contest (have dozens of cookie cutters) but wanted to say this looks GOOD!! Love new ways to cook pork. YUM!

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