Pork chops and pears

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pork-Chops-with-Pears-and-Cider-51220640

Jan 5, 2015

Well, I never really can follow a recipe, but I came close. 
Here are the variations:

• my rosemary, probably inherited when Bernie died was way past its prime so it was too dry and lacked flavor.  Tomorrow I buy more.  In addition it was dried and not the kind the recipe wants, so it was pretty impossible to take it out of the sauce and discard it.  Using whole sprigs for this recipe is a very good idea.
• I forgot to roast the onions with the potatoes.  So I fried them up separately.  They were pretty good anyway.
• I did not want all that sugar in apple cider.  I used a peach/pear seltzer and added a couple drops of stevia.
• I did not buy Yukon Gold potatoes or bone in pork chops.  And I'm happy about that.  I used thinner slices of red potatoes and boneless, very learn pork.  Red potatoes roast up really nicely.  They also make good deep fried potatoes.  I'm happy to have used them.  The leaner no bone pork gave me more room in the pan and less fat. So when I reduced my sauce I did not throw away the pan sauce and then build the fat back up with butter.  I skipped the butter and used the olive oil based pan sauce.  Were the pork chops fatty, I could not have done that.  Also, two butterflied lean boneless pork chops fit much better in my 12 inch cast iron pan. 
• And by the way, that pan is just great.  I got it at Target for $19, the cheapest price I could find.  Whole Foods has the same pan for $45.  Whew!  That is a markup.  12 inches is enough for most things, but at home we have a decades old pan that covers two burners.  It is just great for a fish fry.  Nothing burns in these pans.  I can't believe how easy they make cooking.

I loved what I imagined I would.  I chose the recipe  because I imagined that pork and pears would be an excellent blend of flavors.  Fruit with pork is often good.  This was great!  There was not direction, but I chose the brown, Bartlett pears. 
I don't remember ever having cooked pears in my life.

The next time I make this dish, I will insure that all the foods have a hot place to sit.  It worked well and nothing was cold, but it could have been.  The pears and pork, the potatoes and onions need to sit on a hot pan to keep them from cooling while the sauce reduces.  Since the oven has just been on, putting them on a cookie sheet in the warm over would do the trick and not spoil the delicate tastes.

The reduced sauce was absolutely great!

I don't eat potato, so each bite I allowed myself was a taste treat.  I could eat this dish without the potato, however and still enjoy it.


Finally, this goes well with a red wine.  I chose Lindy's Pinot Noir.  I chose it not because it was an educated decision, but because it was on sale for $6.99 at the Publix market.  It comes from Australia and I'll buy more tomorrow. 
However, I don't want you to think that I just chose it and moved on.  I had one of Cory's favorite Malbec wines, the Garcon that was $36 a bottle at the fancy restaurant in Tampa and $11 a bottle on sale at the same Publix.  I did two taste tests and came out with a different opinion after each.  I would have kept taste testing, but I ran out of the Malbec and at that point I remembered I had forgotten to roast the onions.  One wine while cooking this meal is enough it seems.