Winter Braising

In honor of the first/probably only snowfall of winter, I made a hearty dinner full of braised foods. It was delicious. Braising is underrated as a cooking technique, I think. It's easy-you sear meat or vegetables on high heat, then cook over low heat in liquid pretty much indefinately. It's also an easy way to experiment with flavors and making up your own recipes-once you know the basic timing for braising a particular meat, it's hard to mess up. Plus, meats that you braise are usually the cheaper, tougher cuts, so if you do mess it up, it isn't as big a deal as say, messing up filet mignon.
Tonight's adventure included Smitten Kitchen's Braised balsamic brussels sprouts with pancetta and cider braised pork chops with raisins and cranberries, a recipe I made up as I went along. I'm not good at writing recipes, but I wrote it out below the pictures of my culinary adventure.


Figure 1: Counterspace fail. This is the sum total of counter space in my apartment.


Shallots, in various stages of undress


My sister made me an apron for my birthday. My sister is 24.


Breadcrumbs, toasted until golden brown and then for about three minutes longer. oops.


VERY IMPORTANT. When you use a cast iron skillet, cover the handle, or you will grab it and burn your hand 2350832 times. Burns across the palms of your hand=the suck.


Steaming sprouts



Braising pork chops


The finished product!

Cider Braised Pork Chops
4 bone-in center cut pork chops
3 Tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
1 12-oz bottle hard cider (I used woodchuck)
1/2 cup chicken broth or stock
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Season pork with salt and pepper. Melt 2 tbsp of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sear pork until browned on both sides, about 3 minutes/side. Remove pork from pan, place on plate, and cover with foil. Add remaining tablespoon of butter to pan and melt. Add shallots and garlic, cook until soft and lightly browned. Add cider and broth to deglaze pan. Turn heat down to medium-low, return pork to pan and add fruit. Allow to simmer until pork is tender, 20-30 minutes. Remove pork from pan. Turn heat up to high, add apple cider vinegar to pan. Cook 3-5 minutes, or until sauce thickens. Serve pork topped with sauce and fruit.

springs

I am not doing well at sitting still today.