Pork Chops Gratinée Recipe Inspired by Cabbage Soup
Several years ago I posted one of my favorite recipes for a Baked Cabbage Soup; it is an addictive combination of pancetta, bread, cabbage, and cheese. More recently, Susan (from the Provence WineZine) shared a recipe for Pork Chops Gratinée, which really reminded me of the soup. I was eager to make it. The recipe follows below. Read the original post (here) to discover the wine pairing with a wine from California inspired by a white wine from Châteauneuf-du-Pape. It’s a small world after all.
Pork Chops Gratinée
Ingredients
- 2 thick cut Pork Chops with bone (about 1 1/2 inches thick)
- sea salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp lemon olive oil or regular olive oil
- 1 medium onion thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup white wine more as needed
- 1 small head Savoy cabbage thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup cream
- 4 oz Gruyère cheese grated
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Pat the pork chops dry using paper towels; season with salt and pepper.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat and brown chops well on both sides, don’t worry about not cooking them all the way through, as they will finish cooking later.
- Remove chops and put them in a baking dish; set aside.
- Sauté onions in same olive oil as chops, so that it gets some of the pork fat in addition to the lemon oil.
- Once they are soft and slightly browned from the drippings, add white wine ** and bring to a simmer.
- Add the sliced cabbage. Don't let the pan burn dry; if you need a tablespoon or more of wine, add it.
- Once cabbage is wilted, reduce temperature to low and add the cream. Reduce the liquid until it is thickened.
- Spoon the mixture over pork chops. Sprinkle with grated Gruyère and season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Bake until cheese is bubbling and golden brown – about 20 minutes. Let sit 5 minutes, allowing juices in the pork to settle.
Notes
* I will used crème fraîche instead of cream in the future. It is my guess that this is what is used in France.
** At this point, I might add a teaspoon of Dijon mustard to round out the flavors.
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