Healthy pork chops

Sara Moulton,  Associated Press

When I was in high school, my mother and I threw all kinds of dinner parties.

OK,
she threw the parties and I helped with the cooking. Our go-to entrée
was veal scaloppini. I liked it, no matter how we cooked it. At the time
it seemed so fancy. Now I realise that it was all about the sauce. In
its velvety blandness, veal really is little more than an excuse for
sauce - a cake in search of frosting.

This recipe substitutes pork
chops for veal. A generation ago, this switcheroo wouldn't have worked -
the chops would have been too rich and fatty. But modern-day
engineering has turned pork chops into that other white meat. They have
very little fat and, consequently, very little flavour. Fat is a
conductor of flavour as well as a provider of moisture.

Accordingly,
today's standard-issue supermarket pork chops is nearly as suitable as
veal (as a vehicle for sauce) and it's cheaper too.

And it won't
necessarily take a ton of time and effort to make a good sauce. There
is, of course, a world of sauces to choose from, and many of them are
big productions. But pan sauces, as I discovered during my restaurant
days, are speedy to make, and that's what this recipe calls for.

A
pan sauce is built from the concentrated bits of juice left in the
bottom of a skillet after you've seared a protein. Transforming those
flavourful little nuggets into a sauce requires nothing more intricate
than dissolving them with the aid of a liquid, usually wine and stock,
and adding some extra flavour - often in the form of sautéed shallots or
onions. This template works not just for pork, but for all thin cuts of
chicken, lamb, veal and beef.

Still, you're going to want to
thicken this sauce. If I were working with a home-made chicken stock,
this wouldn't be a problem. But I'm trying to get dinner on the table on
a weeknight, so I typically use store-bought chicken broth, which lacks
the gelatin that thickens a sauce.

What to do?

Coat the
chops with flour, preferably Wondra, an instant flour that Granny used
to use. It will not only thicken the sauce, but keep the meat from
drying out even as it provides a crisper crust than regular all-purpose
flour.

The big flavour in this sauce comes from the grapes and the
mustard. I never knew how 'grapey' a grape could be until I first made
sole Veronique - sole served in a cream sauce with peeled green grapes.
You'll see for yourself, though we've skipped the pesky peeling part.

Pure
pleasure aside, grapes are also a terrific source of resveratrol, the
powerful antioxidant found in wine. So, in one quick, economical and
widely adaptable recipe, you get big flavour, good health, and a pan
gravy. Maybe that's pretty fancy after all.

Sauteed Pork Chops and Grapes with Mustard Sauce

Start to finish: 25 minutes

Servings: 4

Ingredients
Four 1/2 inch-thick bonesless pork chops (about 1 pound total), trimmed of any fat
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
Wondra flour, for dredging the pork chops
1 1/2 tbs vegetable oil, divided
1/4 cup finely choopped yellow onion
1 cup seedless red or green grapes, halved
1/4 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup low-socium chicken broth
1/2 tsp packed dark brown sugar
1 tbs Dijon mustard

Method
(1) Season the pork chops on both sides with salt and pepper.  One at a time, dip the pork chops in the flour, coating them well on both sides but shaking off the excess.

(2) In a large skillet over medium high, heat one table-spoon of the oil. Add the chops to the pan and cook until lightly browned on the first side, about two minutes.  Add the remaining oil to the skillet, turn the chops, and cook for one minute on the second side.  Transfer them to a plate and cover loosely with foil.

(3) Add the onion and grapes to the skillet, reduce the heat to medium low and cook, stirring often, until the onions are golden brown, about three to four minutes. Increase the heat to high, add the wine and bring to a boil  Simmer, stirring until the wine is reduced to one tablespoon.  Add the stock and sugar and simmer until the broth is reduced by half.

(4) Reduce the heat to medium low, return the pork to the skillet along with any juices that have accumulated on the plate, and simmer very gently, turning the pork several times, for one minute.

(5) Transfer each pork chop to a serving plate.  Add teh mustard to the sauce, whisking, then season with salt and pepper.  Pour the sauce evenly over each portion and serve.