Stuffed Pork Chops w/ Caramelized Onions

Powerless



Ok, so I lack will power. It's a flaw, but it's not as though I was child molester or worked for Tyson foods. I'm not so obsessive that I have to count every parking meter on the street nor am I compelled, like some bloggers, to write about my daughter, or even my cat, throwing up — count your blessings.

But yes, I can be obsessive.

Saturday afternoon I got a couple of pork chops out of the freezer for supper Sunday night. I didn’t know what I was going to do beyond eating them, but I figured I'd

It is surely a great calamity for a human being to have no obsessions. ~ Robert Bly quotes

come up with something. As Saturday afternoon progressed I thought about it a bit, perused a couple of cookbooks, thought about it a bit more, checked out some recipe sites on the Web. Now mind you, this was not some single-minded search for a recipe, just sort of a relaxed — oh, I wonder? — research session as I watched TV; worked on a new blog Farmgirl Susan and KitchenMage and I are starting; and caught up with my magazine reading.

But about 10:00 that night I had an idea. I tried to push it out of my mind, to come up with another thought. But the more I pushed against it the better it seemed. It was a perfectly good idea, but it required port — and I didn't have any in the house. I considered using madeira or sherry, which I had. Nope. They wouldn’t work (not that I knew port would work, I mean, I was making this up on the spot, it could turn out to be a fiasco) but at 10:30 I knew it had to be port.

I live in the Bible belt. You can’t buy liquor on Sunday (and in Tennessee, port is legally the same as bourbon or vodka) and the liquor stores were closing in 30 minutes and wouldn’t reopen until Monday morning — a bit late for supper Sunday night. It was about 28 degrees outside — chilly. I was watching a movie on SciFi channel, which would be over by the time I got back. No dice. I couldn't talk myself out of it. No will power.

Sigh. I got up, changed the raggedy sweats I wear at home for something presentable in public, pulled on a coat, drove to the liquor store, and, with 5 minutes to spare, spent $20 on a bottle of port just to make dinner Sunday night. It's not even a main ingredient — it's a flavoring.

I wonder if there's a 12-step program for cooks?

Stuffed Pork Loin Chops Stuffed with Caramelized Onions

2 ea boneless pork loin chops — 1" thick
2 oz gruyere — sliced
1 lg onion — peeled, halved, and sliced into half rounds
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/4 c port
salt and pepper

Melt butter in a large sauce pan over over low heat. Add onions and stir to coat. Cover and cook until onions caramelize — about 30 minutes — stirring frequently.

Heat oven to 400F and heat olive oil in a cast-iron skillet over medium high heat.

Cut a deep pocket in the side of each chop and stuff with sliced gruyere. Liberally season with salt and pepper. Brown one side of chops — about 4 minutes. Turn chops over and place skillet in the oven. Cook chops for about another 5 minutes. Remove from oven and tent with foil.

Meanwhile, place onions over medium heat and stir in vinegar. Reduce vinegar to a glaze. Add port and reduce to a glaze. Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Serve chops topped with caramelized onions.

Note: The gruyere provided an unexpectedly sweet note when paired with the pork. Excellent! The onions were also good, but not worth the trip to the liquor store.

Technorati: Food | recipe | main dish | pork | pork chops