Garlic Pork Chops With Sauvignon Beurre Blanc

Talk about easy - there are a scant 5 ingredients and about half an hour of work involved with this recipe. And still, it is my absolute favorite way to serve pork chops. If you are anything like me, you run out of fun ways to make pork chops. I hate breading and frying them. I like them with fruit (like apricots) or with a honey-mustard sauce. But that was about all I had in my repertoire until I found this recipe in my copy of Dean & DeLuca.

The pork chops end up still tender and juicy, the sauce is just the right concoction of tart (from the wine) and rich (from the few chunks of butter), yet still very light. And the garlic chips, all carmelized and crispy, are just right sprinkled on top. I love to serve this with smashed potatoes, then pour the beurre blanc sauce liberally over the potatoes as well.

Garlic Pork Chops with Sauvignon Beurre Blanc
(from Dean & DeLuca: The Food and Wine Cookbook, 2002)

Ingredients:

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

4 thick pork chops

2 Tbsp. virgin olive oil

8-10 cloves garlic, in crosswise slices

2 c. sauvignon blanc or other dry white wine

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

Salt and pepper pork chops on each side. In a large saute pan or skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat and saute garlic until golden brown. Using a slotted spoon, transfer garlic to a small bowl and set aside.

Put pork chops in hot pan, cover, and cook over medium-high heat until golden brown, 10-15 minutes per side, adding a tablespoon or two of wine to pan if it starts to smoke. Transfer to a plate and cover loosely with foil.

Add wine to pan and stir to scrape up any browned bits. Cook to reduce liquid by half. Reduce heat to low and add butter, stirring until melted. Turn off heat.

Place pork chops on warmed plates. Garnish liberally with garlic and drizzle with pan sauce. Pass any remaining sauce at the table. Serve with sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, riesling or gewürztraminer.