Piedmont Pork Chops
From the Piedmont district, which includes the famous city of Turin, comes this delicious Northern Italian dish. However the recipe I found had a flaw, which is corrected here courtesy of the Cooking Dude.
The original recipe I found required you to add the balsamic vinegar to the milk, which had been used to deglaze the pan. Now this must be an example of someone publishing a recipe without trying it. Although I had never used milk to deglaze a pan before, it seemed to work fine. But adding vinegar curdled what had been looking like a fine sauce into a mess! I threw it out and did it another way.
This is basically a very simple recipe, but the fresh rosemary is important. If you don’t have a rosemary bush growing in your yard like I do, you have to plan ahead.
INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 pork rib chops, preferably brined
salt and pepper
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 or 4 sprigs of rosemary, two for cooking and four smaller pieces for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
Heat the oil in a hot skillet, and salt and pepper the chops. Brown the chops for three minutes per side and set them aside.
Lower the heat a little to medium high, and add the wine to deglaze the pan. (Deglazing the pan means using the wine to dissolve the stuff, called the fond, sticking to the bottom of the pan. Scrape it up with the flat end of a spatula. It adds great flavor to the sauce.) Add the broth, vinegar, two sprigs of rosemary, and the cream. Stir that around a little and add the chops back into the pan. Cover the pan and simmer for ten minutes or so until the chops are done.
Spoon some sauce onto the plate and top with a chop and a rosemary sprig. In the photo, the dish is also served with pan roasted zucchini. Have some bread handy also, for sopping up the great sauce.