January 19, 2006

Braised Pork Chops


Braised Pork Chops
with Sage and Tomatoes
Modena Style

from Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Italian Cooking

2 TBSP butter
1 TBSP olive oil
2 center cut pork chops, 1 inch thick
6 to 8 fresh sage leaves
black pepper
3/4 cup canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up with their juices

Choose a saute pan that can contain all the chops without overlapping (the recipe calls for 4 chops originally). Put in the butter and oil and turn on the heat to medium high. When the butter foam begins to subside, turn the chops on both sides in flour, shake off the excess, and slip them into the pan together with the sage leaves. Cook the chops to a rich brown on both sides, about 2 minutes per side.

Add salt, pepper and tomatoes with their juice. Adjust heat to cook at a slow simmer, and cover the pan. Cook for about 1 hour, until the meat feels tender. Turn the chops from time to time while they are cooking.

By the time the pork is done, the sauce in the pan should have become rather dense. If it is too runny, transfer the chops to a warm serving platter and reduce the pan juices over high heat for a few minutes. Tip the pan and spoon off the fat. Pour the contents of the pan over the chops and serve at once.

Notes: I love braising. It's one of my favorite ways to cook meat. It always ends up so tender and full of flavor. This dish was on the subtle side; none of the flavors were strongly pronounced. But it was quite tasty.

Served with Chimney Creek Sauvignon Blanc 2004.

Posted by Jennifer at January 19, 2006 10:46 PM | TrackBack
Comments

Very tasty. The long cooking time meant that the sage flavor was quite mild, and the braising left the meat tender indeed.

Posted by: Michael at January 21, 2006 8:43 PM

I love your recipes. This one inspired me to something similar with chicken.

I sauteed onion, garlic and two chicken breasts in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil till the onion was transparent. Then I dumped in a can of
whole tomatoes and their juice, cutting up the tomatoes in the pan. If I do it again I'll add two cans, because once they cooked down they were yummy and there weren't enough. I sprinkled oregano on the top (maybe a teaspoon, teaspoon and a half).

Once the tomatoes were in I turned the burner to low and let it simmer for twenty minutes, till the liquid was mostly gone. It was very tasty with low carb rotini pasta.

I would never have even tried it without your inspiration. Thanks. I read you faithfully.

Posted by: Jae Walker at January 30, 2006 12:59 PM

This is one of my top 3 favorite recipes. I'm traveling and don't have my well-loved copy of the Hazan book with me so I was tremendously grateful to find this. Thanks!

Posted by: zz zum at May 13, 2006 5:11 PM

after adding the tomatoes try adding roughly chopped black olives for an extra mediterraenean taste. substitute the sage for basil if doin this

Posted by: david at September 25, 2007 6:23 AM
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