Pork Chops Teodoro

I named this dish for my Uncle Ted, whom you read about in an earlier blog post. It wasn't easy to create a dish to reflect him because he had so many gastronomical interests. So I gave up on that and just tried to picture him when he visited me or talked to me. Every year he would stop in and bring a large braided garlic chain when the season was over. Then he would always tell me that garlic could be used in unusual combinations but, he annually admonished me, never use too much!! So in that spirit, here is a simple dish (he would have liked that) using garlic and apple (he would have liked that) and named Pork Chops Teodoro. I guarantee he would not have liked that name, but I overrule him here because I like the sound of it :)

Regaleali

To add a little style to simple pork chops, I'll highlight two wines. The first will be our dinner wine, but about 1/4 cup of it will also be used to create a braising sauce. This wine is from Sicily and from the estate of the Tasca D'Almiritas, named Regaleali. Ironically, this is just a little way from the tiny town that both my grandparents on my Father's side emigrated from around the turn of the 20th century. This is an unusual white wine for Italy (I know, I know: Sicily is not Italy...just for now). Generally you expect Italian whites to be crisp and brittle (think Pinot Grigio: think it, don't drink it). But this Regaleali White is full and complex. A really enjoyable wine!

Jerez-Xéres-Sherry D.O.

The second wine will only be poured over just as you plate the dish. Use a little or a lot, whatever you can afford. This is Lustau's Pedro Ximénez sherry. If you've never had this sherry, you're in for quite a surprise. It's made from the Pedro Ximénez grapes and is a dark, very sweet and rich wine with hints of chocolate and figs. Its D.O. is in the Cadiz province of Andalusia. Pour some over ice cream and you can really sparkle up a dessert - seriously! It works perfectly as a sauce in this dish because it contrasts well with the spiciness of the Creole rub applied to the chops.

I chose to accompany the chops with a simple side of brown rice, but with some chili sauce added at the end of the cooking period. I happened to have some excellent home-canned chili sauce given to me by a dear friend (thanks Irene!).

Finally, I was treated to a visit from my granddaughter just as the meal was nearing completion, so she stayed to try it out. She loved every part of it! This was a little shocking to me because there was stuff here she doesn't generally like, such as "cooked fruit." So either this dish is a real winner, or that little girl is growing up and branching out. See what college will do!

the cook's martini is not required, but recommended

Ingredients:

2 boneless Pork Chops

1 firm-type Apple, peeled, cored and sliced into thick slices

1 Onion, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, split

1 Tablespoon Ketchup

Any spicy Rub for chops

fine Flour for chops

1/4 cup White Wine

Pedro Ximénez Sherry

1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

2 Tablespoons Butter

Brown Rice, for two

1 Tablespoon Butter

1/4 cup Chili Sauce

Equipment:

1 large heavy-bottomed fry pan (not teflon)

1 Oven-safe casserole pan

1 small saucepan for the rice

"coring" garlic

Method:

1      Dry the chops and rub with a spicy seasoning. I used a commercial Creole product that's pretty good. Then dredge them in a fine pan-searing flour. Chop the onions into big chunks. Split the garlic cloves. If there is a green fold in the middle of the clove, carefully remove it. It will be bitter. Peel and core the apple and slice into rather large slices (you don't want them to turn into applesauce!), reserve.

ingredients prepped

2      Preheat oven to 325 F.

3      Heat a frypan and add 1 Tbs Oil and 1 Tbs Butter. When it is hot, sear the chops until a nice crust forms on each side. I find a cast iron pan works best for this. Remove the chops and reserve.

Searing chops

4      Add another tablespoon of butter and then sauté the onions until they soften a bit. Scrape up the bottom of the pan. 

Add the garlic and sauté for another minute or so. Then add the white wine. After a few minutes, stir in the ketchup. 

After another minute transfer this sauce to an oven-safe crock (like Corningware™). Then layer the apples over the top of this, 

and finally the pork chops.

5      Cover, and place in the center of the oven. Set the timer for 30 minutes.

6      Prepare the rice by placing rice and water and 1 Tbs butter in a sauce pan.

7      At the 30 minute mark, bring the rice to a boil, fluff with a fork, cover and let cook, untouched, over moderate heat so it is just boiling. Set the timer for 25 minutes.

8      At the 25 minute mark, add the chili sauce to the rice, mix with a fork, and judging from the consistency, allow to cook a little longer (probably 5 more minutes). When most of the liquid is gone, turn off heat and let sit, covered, for about 5 more minutes.

9      While the rice is resting, remove chops from oven and uncover. Place a chop on each plate. Carefully remove apples, one at a time, and place next to chops. Drizzle a little PX sherry over both pork chops and apples. Place the rice on each plate and serve with that beautiful Regaleali Bianco. Enjoy!

- love Dave