What's for Dinner {30} - Rosemary Herbed Pork Chops with Shallot Wine Sauce

It has been quite awhile since I've posted a What's for Dinner post! To be real, it's because I was barely cooking a dinner for us to be worth sharing. For months there were no new recipes tried, no looking up fun ideas on Pinterest....NOTHING. But alas, I have come back to life! I recently got back in the groove of menu planning and for the first time ever, we've done a decent job sticking to it! So look forward to quite a few new recipes in the coming weeks and possibly months - you know me, I'm not always completely on top of this blog thing :)

I'll start with the fact that this was not a big hit with Gspice. He alerted me afterwards that he's not a big huge-chunk-of-meat person. Um, what? Who did I marry? I say BRING ON THE MEAT! Gary was ready to throw out pork from our diet completely! I got a little worked up because I have a love affair with pork.

Let me ride off on a tangent for a moment - I attended a really nice winter wedding in Chicago back in 2009 with this lovely brood...

At this wedding was the best pork I have ever had. I was so obsessed, I asked for their business card. One day I wanted to have them cater one of my events. I'd hold an event in Chicago simply to have that pork again. Don't believe me? Look at how they presented and served the big cuts of meat!

Then came a few too many vodka cranberries for the both of us....

We both got pretty sick which was NO good - a topic that Andrew's parents will probably never let us live down. I don't mind - it's such a fun memory :)

As you can guess, I've wanted this meat to be a staple ever since. It never has been because I'm still terribly intimidated by it. I told Gspice that we should stick to a more tender cut so we haven't thrown in the towel just yet.

I, however, really liked this dish. And to me, that's why it's worth sharing!


Rosemary Herbed Pork Chops with Shallot Wine Sauce from Bam's Kitchen

*2 tender thick cut pork chops (I used bone-in pork chops)
*1 T olive oil
*1 1/2 T rosemary, freshly chopped
*2 t Seasonings (dried onion, salt, garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, orange zest and paprika)
*1 c whole unpeeled mini onions (I quartered whatever onions I had - shallots and odd shaped white onions I got from the Farmer's Market)
*1 c white wine (1/2 for roasting and 1/2 for sauce)
*1/2 c water
*S&P to taste
*1 T butter

Pre-heat oven to  375 F.

Rub your pork chops with olive oil on both sides. Season pork chops with fresh rosemary and seasoning mixture. Heat up an oven-proof skillet or pan to a medium-high heat and sear for just a minute or two on both sides of seasoned pork chops. Remove from heat.

Next, add 1/2 cup of wine and onions. Bake your pork chops uncovered for about 25-30 minutes or until the internal temperature of at least 145 degrees F or 160 F if you like well done, depending on how thick your pork chops are.

Remove your pork chops for the pan and rest covered for 5 minutes. (Do not wash the pan that you cooked the pork chops in.) Instead place the pan you cooked your pork chops in over medium heat. Add wine to deglaze the pan.  Add water. Chop up a few of the caramelized mini onions (shallots) and add to the wine sauce. Allow the wine sauce to reduce to about 1/2. Season with salt and pepper. Turn off the burner and add a tablespoon of butter to finish the shallot wine sauce.

Serve pork chops with a drizzle of shallot wine sauce on top. Enjoy!