Sometimes you see things and think to yourself "huh, I'd have changed x, y or z". That's kind of what happened to bring about this really, really, tasty pork stew that Karina and I had last week. I was listening to Food Network (which I freely admit is evil, but some days there just isn't anything good on the gazillion other channels and those are the days you need background noise, but not just background-background noise, you need something with a bit of substance, and you know you can't pop The Hunt for Red October or the Star Trek reboot movie in the DVD player again else your child will revolt and you'll wake up bald or covered in honey or some other heinous thing....but I digress) and Ina Garten was making Beef Burgandy, a dish I love long time (I shall post mine some time in the future). As she went on about what to do I thought to myself "self, you don't have beef in the freezer, but you do have those tasty pork chops that you won't actually make as pork chops" because I wouldn't have, trust me. Even though they came from Jaworski's and their meat is always amazing. Just not a fan of pork chops in a pork chop preparation.
Anyway, I thought of the pork chops and then I thought "I bet they'd taste good as a stew braised in white wine and tossed over hot buttered egg noodles". And you know what, they tasted even better.
And please forgive the photography. I like to use natural light for pictures, but for some reason have yet to find optimal placement of my freezer (which I use for placing things on) to capture the light. In addition I really need to invest in a tripod. Also, I should probably read more about how to take good photographs. I took about 15 shots of the finished dish and this was the best of them. I should have checked them out before saying it was done and digging in to the stew. Live and learn.
Pork Stew
marinade:
1 1/2 cups white wine (whatever makes you happy)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and just smacked with the back of a knife
1 tablespoon grey sea salt
1 1/2 tablespoons dried rosemary
2 small bay leaves
2 pounds lean pork, cubed
prep:
1/2 pound button mushrooms, quartered
1 large onion, large dice
2 tablespoons bacon drippings (or oil)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
3 cups stock
1 cup white wine
grey sea salt to taste
binder:
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 to 3 tablespoons flour
Combine all the marinade ingredients together in a gallon sized plastic bag, close it and then massage everything together. Stick the bag in the fridge and let sit over night.
Next day take the pork out of the fridge and let it set at room temperature for about half an hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat a large pot over medium high heat and add the bacon drippings. When the drippings are spitting hot, add in the pork cubes, roughly drained (grab them with tongs and shake them off), in small batches to sear. Remove the seared meat to a large casserole dish and continue until all the meat is browned. Add the olive oil to the pan, reduce the heat to medium and toss in the chopped onion. Sprinkle with a little sea salt and saute until translucent. Remove onion to the casserole and add the butter to the pot. When melted and hot toss in the quartered mushrooms and saute until just barely browned. Remove mushrooms to the casserole. Pour wine into the pot to deglaze, then add stock and bring mixture to a boil. Taste for salt and add if needed. Combine the melted butter and flour to make a cold rue. Add to the boiling mixture and allow to thicken. Taste for seasoning again and adjust if needed. Pour over meat and vegetables in casserole dish, stir to combine, cover with foil and pop it into the oven for about an hour to an hour and a half. When finished, remove from oven and serve over egg noodles.
