There’s just something totally gratifying about taking a couple of ingredients and turning them into something spectacular. This week is French Food week. I try to do that every so often. It’s a little expensive to do all the time, and it would turn me into a complete fatty if I ate that way all the time.
So, it’s a pretty arduous process. I break out my Julia Child cookbook, cross reference my Jacques Pepin techniques book… and then I just flip and randomly pick some stuff out. Tonight.. it was a masterpiece. Cotes de Porc Sauce Nenette.
This roughly translates into Pork Chops in Nanette Sauce. It’s a cream, mustard, and tomato sauce. I originally had reservations about tomato and mustard together, but decided to give it a shot. The recipe originally called for some time in the oven, but I got center cut porkchops, as I prefer them. They are prettier, and less fatty.
So I put a little olive oil and butter in a pan, fried them on each side for about 4-5 minutes after I season them with thyme, salt, and pepper. I dumped the oil, took them out of the pan and set them aside. I de-glazed with 1 cup of cream, a tbsp of dijon mustard, and 2 tablespoons of tomato paste.
I seasoned the sauce with the thyme, salt and some pepper. Once the sauce had heated a bit, I put the meat back in along with the juices on the plate.
Had to take a taste at this point. Wow. This is seriously one of the best sauces I have ever had in my life. The french really know what’s up.
The Confluent Kitchen 