Cooking: Pork Chops w/ Carmelized Onion

On our last group trip to Napa, we ate at a restaurant called Bistro Jeanty. It's one of my favorite restaurants to visit. The food's phenomenal and the feel is quaint and cozy. Besides the tomato soup in puff pastry, one other dish was particularly memorable. It was the Cote de Porc (Pork chop, mashed potato, onion sauce).



Here it is:





Last night, Timmys and Audrey invited me over to her house to cook dinner and watch a new episode of Hell's Kitchen. I had been yearning to try and recreate the pork chops that we had at Bistro Jeanty so that's what we did. It seemed easy enough, season the pork chops and pan fry 8-10 minutes on both sides until it's almost done. Deglaze pan with wine (I used a Chenin Blanc that I got from Milat winery). I kinda messed up on this part. What I should've done was added butter, then the onions until they were caramelized and then deglaze. I was a bit worried because all the bits on the bottom of the pan were starting to turn black which is why I deglazed before adding butter and onions. It still worked out though, it just seemed that the onions took a long ass time to caramelize. Since I had to do the pork in two batches, we started the mashed potatoes by putting 5 Yukon Golds into a pot of cold water and brought it to a boil. Instead of using a fork to see if they were done, I used a semi sharp knife to test. That wasn't a good idea because the potatoes ended up being undercooked. *sigh* So far my recreation wasn't going as planned. The onions had carmelized into a nice dark brown so I took those off the heat and plated.



Here's what it looked like. The pork chop kinda hides the mashed potatoes, but you know the protein is the star in the dish. I wish I had a ring mold to make a bed for the mashed potatoes and porkchop. You know.. in layers. Onions on the bottom, nice round scoop of mashed potatoes and porkchop with a gangsta lean. Oh well, overall the flavor was there even though the potatoes were undercooked. Next time I know where to improve though! Cook n learn. That's what it's all about.





Recipe Links

Pork Chops with Caramelized Onion
http://www.landolakes.com/mealIdeas/ViewRecipe.cfm?RecipeID=7110C



Sour Cream and Chive Mashed Potatoes
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sour-Cream-and-Chive-Mashed-Potatoes/Detail.aspx

Oh yeah and in regards to last night's Hell's Kitchen. Eh... it was an OK episode. More of Ramsey yelling at the incompetance of the cooks, but it's not like I could do any better. I just wish they would answer Ramsey's questions when he asks them how long instead of beating around the bush. You'll notice that he doesn't pester them as much when they give him a straight answer. I was glad to see Vinnie go. Let's see, out of all the chefs, I'd want either Rock or Jen (the red headed one).