Pork chops served with a merlot wine sauce

Pork chops with a merlot sauce

Posted on March 10th, 2008 by Jeff

The merlot sauce in this recipe will play well with a majority of meat such as beef (especially mr. bland filet), pork chops, or even some lamb chops. Besides being versatile a merlot sauce is a simplistic sauce to make that is very flavorful.

I chose to use pork chops (surprised I went to something pork aren’t you?) and used my trusty cast iron skillet to cook them. The major reason was doing a good thorough spring cleaning on my Weber grill and noticed the burner tubes were clogging up. Took a toothpick and started poking to free up the junk when part of the tube caved in from rust. However, a quick phone call to Weber’s amazing customer service and I find out there is a 10 year warranty on the burner tubes and they have new ones shipping out to me right now. Figured after 6 years of heavy use (with 4 of those years being stored outdoors in rain, sleet, snow, and whatever else Indiana weather can throw at it) if this is the only problem I have ever had with a grill I will never turn away from Weber.

For the sauce you will need:

2 cups of merlot
2 cups of beef broth
1 shallot diced finely
2 cloves of garlic sliced
1 tb of chopped rosemary
3 sprigs of thyme
2 bay leaves
2 tb of cornstarch dissolved in 2 tb of water
Kosher salt and black pepper
1 TB of extra virgin olive oil

In a saucepan over medium add in the extra virgin olive oil and the shallot and garlic. Cook till softened (about 2 minutes).

Add in the merlot, stock, rosemary, thyme, and bay leaf. Simmer till reduced to about 1.5 cups (about an hour).

Strain the sauce and discard the solids.

Return the sauce back over medium heat and bring to a boil. Taste the sauce and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Wisk in the 2 tb of cornstarch dissolved in water and return to a boil. Remove from heat and set aside.

For the pork chops you are going to need:

Pork chops
Kosher salt and black pepper
2 TB of a high temperature oil (I used canola)

About 30 minutes before you ready to cook the pork chops remove them from the refrigeration and let them come up to room temperature. This will ensure even cooking. Salt and pepper the pork chops.

In a skillet over medium-high add in the oil and then the pork chops. Cook 3-5 minutes a side or until the pork chops are medium. The pork chops I cooked were about 1.5 inches thick so this took about 4 minutes a side.