Looking For A Quick & Easy Mid-Week Meal

This rececipe was adapted from one of my favorite cookbooks called The Complete Meat Cookbook by Bruce Aidells and Denis Kelly. If you want to learn all about cuts of meat and how to cook them, this is the book I would recommend.

It’s one of those cookbooks I enjoy reading just to learn meat-cooking techniques and there are plenty of great recipes to put those techniques to the test. What I particularly like about the recipes is how they consistently remind the home cook to watch internal temperatures. Don’t depend on time and external temps but be aware of the meat’s internal temperatures.

I picked up some nice looking center cut pork chops at our local farmers market from my friends at Stoltzfus Meats that may have been a little to thin for this recipe so I really had to watch how fast they cooked.

Normally I like to grill or pan fry center cut pork chops but if you are careful, braising them for a short time is a great alternative plus you end up with some delicious sauce for the mashed potatoes or noodles.

Their recipe used Pernod, a brand of liqueur called pastis that has a licorice flavor and goes well with the fennel. You could also go with anisette, another licorice flavored liquor. Go lightly with either. A little adds a lot of flavor.

Braised Pork Chops with Fennel Sauce
Cooking Techniques = Searing & Braising

Ingredients

4 - 1 ¼ to 1 ½ inch thick pork chops (I used center cut but you could also substitute pork blade chops that comes from the loin or the pork blade steaks that comes from the shoulder.)
1 – 2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup of finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
½ cup finely chopped fennel bulb
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons Pernod or anisette
½ cup chicken stock
¼ cup heavy cream (optional but I recommend)

Prep the Ingredients

Chopping – if you have time and enjoy the task of finely chopping the onion, garlic and fennel, I find it can be a very relaxing exercise. If you are making this midweek and are in a hurry, using a food processor is a great alternative. Just be careful not to over process the ingredients.

How to Prepare

Start by preheating your sauté (fry) pan over medium high heat. If your pan isn’t big enough to sear all four chops, cook them in two batches. You never want to overcrowd the pan or the meat will steam.

Add the oil and let it get hot. Add the chops and sear them for a couple of minutes on each side. When you add the chops, don’t try to move them around. They are going to stick to the pan and will stay stuck to the pan until they sear up and release on their own. This is a good indicator to flip them to the other side.

After the meat is browned on both sides, remove it from the pan and reserve on a plate or bowl. No need to keep warm since you are going to finish cooking the chops in the braise. Be sure to save any juices that might bleed out of the chops to add back to the pan later.

Most recipes say to pour off all but a couple of tablespoons of any fat left from the meat or oil in the pan at this point. It’s been my experience there is no fat left and I often have to add a little more to sauté the rest of the ingredients.

Add the onion, garlic, fennel and a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook these ingredients on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Be sure to stir them often so they don’t burn.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the Pernod or anisette and return the pan back to the heat. Shake and cook for about 1 minute. I don’t think it will flame up, but if it does, be careful not to burn yourself and have a cover near by if you need to put out the flame.

Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil and then lower heat to simmer. At this point add the meat back to the pan and continue to cook until the internal temperature of the meat is about 155F. Remove the meat from the pan and keep warm by loosely covering with foil.

Add the cream and reduce the sauce until it begins to thicken to your desired consistency. When I first tasted the sauce before adding the cream, I thought it was a little bitter from too much Pernod or the fennel. The original recipe calls for 3 tablespoons of Pernod but I reduced it to two. Your choice. Adding the cream got rid of the bitter taste so that’s why I like using it.

We served the pork on a bed of egg noodles with sauerkraut and applesauce on the side.

Delicious!

When you think of ossobuco, you most likely think of Ossobuco alla Milanese, a fabulous recipe from Milan, Italy made with braised veal shanks and just happens to be one of my all time favorite meals.

Here’s my recipe for classic veal ossobuco (also spelled osso buco or osso buco). I serve it with Gremolada made from parsley, lemon and garlic.

The name osso buco comes from the Italian Western Lombard language and translated means “hole bone” which is the shank that is filled with bone marrow that’s quite delicious. I like to remove it and use it in the sauce or just spoon it out and eat it as an extra treat at the end of the meal.

My First Experience with “PorkoBuco”

My wife and are were out for dinner at this small but fun Italian BYOB restaurant in Philadelphia with a group of friends after just attending the annual Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Car Show fund raiser.

We are dressed to the nines and find ourselves in this hole-in-wall restaurant with three large birthday parties going on around us, everyone having a great time. By the end of the night, everyone is singing happy birthday to anyone who dare claims they had a birthday in the past year. There is birthday cake being shared between tables, a very festive night.

The food in this place is terrific so we are all excited to hear the specials. The waiter comes over and says, “You all know what veal ossobuco is right? Well, we don’t have it tonight. Instead we are serving porkobuco!”

Since I’ve never had it before, I thought I would give it a try and ordered it. Pork osso buco is made just like the veal version except you use the pork shank instead of the veal shank.

Great Big Inexpensive Piece of Meat

The pork shank is big, meaty and looks more like a lamb shank and best of all is a fraction of the cost of veal shanks and much cheaper than lamb shanks. I think I paid under $3 per pound at my favorite pork butcher, Stolzfus Meats, in the Ardmore Farmers Market.

You may be more familiar with cured pork shanks, also called ham hocks that are sold for making split pea soup. You don’t want to use these for this recipe. If you can’t find fresh pork shanks, just ask your butcher to order you some and don’t let him overcharge you for them. They are very inexpensive.

One shank is enough for one person and makes an awesome display when served on mashed potatoes with that big bone sticking out. But be sure to buy extra shanks because there is nothing like leftover pork shank served over egg noodles with that rich incredible sauce.

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This recipe comes from my friend Jules Silver at ClubSauce.com. His web site offers some great gourmet products and may be the only site on the Internet offering all of More Than Gourmet’s products including Demi-Glace Gold you always here me talking about.

I have no problem plugging my buddy Jules because I know the products he markets, I use a lot of them myself, and Jules offers some of the best service you can find on the Net.  Jules handles all orders himself so I know he takes good care of his customers.

In his spare time, Jules likes to dabble in the kitchen and has recently come up with his own line of products called Splash that are Pomegranate Reduction Sauces. They’re excellent for making sauces or adding a little extra flavor to soups and stews but I also like them on fresh fruit and ice cream.

Here’s Jules recipe for pan seared pork loin with his

Pomegranate Port Reduction Sauce
Servings: 4 

Ingredients:

1 2-3 lb pork loin
1-tablespoon garlic, chopped
1-tablespoon herbs de Provence  (typically contains rosemary, marjoram, basil, bay leaf, thyme)
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup dry red wine
1/3 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup Splash! Pomegranate Port Reduction Sauce
Fresh ground pepper to taste 1/4-cup fresh pomegranate seeds, optional
 
1. Pre heat oven to 325°. Rub pork loin with 1-tablespoon extra virgin olive oil until lightly coated. Sprinkle with herbs de Provence rubbing it into the meat and then set aside.

2. Combine 1-tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, garlic, and herbs de Provence in a sauté pan over medium low heat. As garlic starts to brown add wine and reduce until the mixture has a slight syrupy consistency.

3. Whisk in the roasted chicken stock and the pomegranate port reduction sauce until blended. Remove pan from the stovetop. Heat a separate skillet with a heat resistant handle over medium-high heat. Add the pork loin and quickly sear on one side and then turn so that both sides have slightly browned.

4. Using a brush lightly baste the pork loin with the sauce mixture and then place the skillet with the pork in the oven. Cook for about 45 minutes or if using an instant read thermometer 150°, basting every 15 minutes with the sauce.

5. Remove the pork loin from the skillet to a dish and allow to stand for 5 minutes before carving. Place the meat on a carving board and pour any juices from the plate back into the saucepan. Return the pan to the stove and warm over medium low heat.

Carve the pork loin at a diagonal in 1/2-inch slices. Place the sliced pieces of pork on each plate. Spoon the sauce on top. Sprinkle with pomegranate seeds and serve.