Red Wine Pork Chops and Lemony Green Beans

This dinner is dreamy. Pan-seared pork chops and whole garlic cloves in an irresistible red wine sauce, complimented by green beans that are bursting with lemony freshness… It’s fabulous, and it keeps getting better…

It’s actually a 16-Minute-Meal, believe it or not… and if you don’t believe me then maybe you’ll believe the Pioneer Woman, it’s her recipe*. Keep reading for my step-by-step dinnertime journey;

Red Wine Pork Chop INGREDIENTS (serves 4):
4 bone-in Pork Chops, 1 inch thick
Salt and Pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
2 tablespoons Butter
16 cloves Garlic
1 1/2 cups Red Wine
1 Bay Leaf
1/2 cup Beef Broth
1 tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar

Lemony Green Beans INGREDIENTS (serves 4):
1 pound thin Green Beans
2 tablespoons Butter
Zest and juice of 1 Lemon
Salt and Pepper, to taste
*Lemony Green Beans are the suggested side-item for this dish, if you don’t want to serve green beans you don’t have to; simply skip the steps involving green beans.

INSTRUCTIONS:
Salt and pepper both sides of the pork chops…

Snap, or cut, off the ends of the green bean pods…. I cut them because I wanted all the bean pods to be the same length.

Work in small batches until they are all done… We will come back to the green beans soon. Keep them close.

Add 2 tablespoons of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a cast iron skillet over high-heat… When the butter has melted throw in the pork chops. I seared two pork chops at a time. I didn’t want to overcrowd the pan; I have an irrational fear of pan overcrowding…

The objective here is to sear the outside of the pork chops, giving them as much color as possible; you don’t need to cook them all the way through yet… they will be going back on the heat soon…

The pork chops will need to sear for 2 to 3 minutes on each side…. So you can use the wait-time to peel the garlic cloves. So, start peeling… and don’t stop until you have about 16 peeled garlic cloves. I had 17 because 2 were pretty small… and I love, love, LOVE fresh garlic.

Helpful Housewife Hint: This is a job you can do earlier in the day. It takes some people a while to peel garlic… But I cook with garlic so often, I feel like I could peel it in my sleep… Plus, I enjoy the simplicity of peeling garlic…. However, you can bypass this step all together and buy pre-peeled garlic… but that’s no fun.

The pork chops should be colorful and gloriously seared by now. So, remove them from the heat and set them aside… Don’t clean the pan… I repeat, DO NOT clean the pan, you’ll need all that pork-chopy-cast-iron-goodness.

Reduce the heat in the pan to medium-high and toss in the peeled garlic.

Let the garlic cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until it starts turning beautifully golden brown. It will get pretty soft, which is exactly what you want.

Wine Wisdom: I’m cooking on a glass stove top… But be very, very careful if you are cooking on a metal burner or over an open flame; sometimes the wine and open flame can ignite. So turn the burner off, pour in the wine, and then turn the burner back on. Just to be on the safe side…

Anyway, add 1 and 1/2 cups of red wine to the skillet… Or, if you’re heavy-handed like me, add about 2 cups of red wine to the skillet. Oops. I used Merlot; but Cabernet Sauvignon or Pinot Noir would work great too, as would basically any red wine that isn’t too sweet.

Then toss in a bay leaf…

With a wooden utinsil scrape the bottom of the pan, releasing all the flavorful bits of pork and garlic. Now, you must have patience and good judgement; you need to let the wine cook down until it has reduced and thickened a bit, about 3 minutes. You can slightly increase the heat if needed.

Keep a careful eye on the red wine and garlic skillet… But this is a good time to prepare the green beans… It only takes a few minutes. Start by adding 2 tablespoons of butter to a non-stick skillet over high-heat…

Let the butter melt, swirling the pan so the butter cooks evenly… As the butter melts it will turn a golden tan color and begin to foam…

When the butter turns a shade of toasty brown add the peas to the skillet, toss them around, and let them sauté for 3 to 4 minutes.

While you wait for the green beans to sauté you can report back to the red wine / garlic mixture for a minute. So, give the red wine a good stir, and if it has reduced and thickened, add 1/2 cup beef broth.

Then add the pork chops back to the skillet with the red wine sauce.

Also, pour in the juices from the pork chop plate… That juice is too good to be wasted!

Then pour in 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar… Also, this would be a good time to give the green beans a little stir. Multi-tasking, WooHoo!

Mix the contents of the cast iron skillet around — covering the pork chops in the red wine sauce and garlic. Let the sauce continue to bubble and thicken as the pork chops finish cooking through.

Now, quickly back to the green beans. So, zest a lemon….

… and add the lemon zest to the green beans, followed by the juice of the lemon.

Give the green beans a stir, then add salt and pepper to taste, and stir again… they should be lemony and tender. If they aren’t tender enough you can give them a couple more minutes.

Transfer the green beans to a serving platter, using tongs.

Followed by the pork chops…

Then pour the red wine sauce and garlic all over the pork chops on the platter.

Serve and Enjoy! I was so excited to eat…. I wasn’t even concerned with taking fancy plate pictures. The food is that good! Really.

*You can find a version of the Pork Chops with Garlic and Wine recipe on the Pioneer Woman’s Blog… Or on the Pioneer Woman section of the Food Network Website, where her TV show recipes are posted.

Cook Long and Prosper. Love, the Uncustomary Housewife