Pork Chops with a Gruyere wine sauce

Ok, I confess, I originally wanted to make a recipe that recreated a sandwich which had been featured on an Anthony Bourdain show.

It was a fried, breaded pork chop, topped with bacon and proscuito, finished off with a fried egg and topped with Gruyere cheese. The secret ingredient as far as I was concerned was the Gruyere.

Fast forward a bit. I had purchased the gruyere with the implicit desire to make this dish, but I didn't feel like a sandwich. What to do?

I've been on a "sauce" kick for a while now, experimenting and testing out new sauces. (That merlot sauce I made for the lamb is still coming, I promise. Its just a lot of work)

I also have been treasuring simplicity. I have no problem cooking for 2-3 hours but sometimes you just wanna rip something out. This is what I came up with...

Pan seared pork chops with a Gruyere wine sauce. (Thats the title of this blog post, so that was kind of a spoiler.)

Anyways, onto the recipe.

Ingredients:
Pork Chops or Pork Tenderloin medallions.
Olive Oil
Finely diced onions
1/2 cup Finely chopped white mushroomos
Salt
Pepper
*1 cup Chicken Broth
Tarragon, chopped roughly.
*1/2 cup White Wine
1 oz of shredded or cubed Gruyere cheese.
6 tbsp butter.


*Make sure to have additional broth and wine on hand as you may need to add some once the cheese is in the dish.

Step 1: Heat about 1-2 tbsp of olive oil in a regular skillet over moderately high heat.

Step 2: Salt and pepper the outsides of your pork chops. (Pretend they're steaks, we're cookin' em that way anyway)

Step 3: Add the pork chops to the skillet. Sear the chop on one side, about 2-3 minutes (Depending on your skillet/oven) Once the pork has turned white on one side and shows flecks of browning, flip it. You do not want to overcook the pork. I refuse to overcook anything damnit, and searing them on the outside keeps the moisture inside. Remember those dried out shoe leather pork chops grandma used to make? This ain't LucidzGradmasRecipes.com, so go elsewhere if you hate taste and juicy pork.

Step 4: Once the pork has been seared on both sides, remove to a plate and tent with foil. Lower the heat of the oven, take the skillet off so that the juices and drippings won't evaporate. Wait a minute or two and put the skillet back on the burner. Add 2 tbsp butter and the onions and mushroom to the same skillet. allow the onions to become transluscent.

Step 5: Add 1 cup of broth, additional 2 tbsp of btuter and 1/2 cup of wine plus tarragon to the skillet. Bring to simmer. Allow sauce to reduce for about 5 minutes.

Step 6: Slowly add chunked/shredded gruyere cheese, stirring constantly and allowing it to melt. Depending on the brand/type of Gruyere and wether you shredded or cubed, you may have strings of cheese in the pan. This is normal.

Step 7: Once all cheese has been added, taste the sauce. It may need more broth, more wine or more butter. (Do not add cream.) Get the sauce to your desired flavor balance and texture. (If you can't figure out how to do this, tough, its time to experiment ain't it?)

Step 8: Add the pork back into the sauce and allow time to reheat the pork. 3-5 minutes should suffice.

Step 9: Serve and plate!

Enjoy!

Note: I serve this dish with Rosti Potatoes.