There hasn’t been a lot of food blogging going on here at The Travelling Chopsticks, and for this I apologise. However, now that we have settled into Brasilia and there are no massive travel plans until Christmas, be expecting a lot more goodies to come out of our kitchen :)

None of our kitchen stuff has arrived yet – they will most likely be arriving by November! Although with this bloody government shut down, God only knows when I will see my things again (Republicans…can you guys get your shit together and vote!?!) So it means for the time being I am cooking with rather crappy pots and pans, dull kitchen knives and no fancy, schmancy Kitchen Aid! However, I shouldn’t complain, at least I have the basics and with that you really can make anything!

Tonight we made pork chops in a dijon mustard sauce and they were good :)

The original recipe for these pork chops can be found here at Simply Recipes. If you have never come across this food blog, and are always looking for inspiration as to what to eat, I highly suggest that you go check it out. I love how straight-forward it is, and the fact that they cook with whole ingredients and do not shy away from butter, cream or eggs!

This recipe calls for dijon mustard for the sauce, which I used today, however I think you can use whatever your favourite mustard is and you will get a stellar dinner!

Pork Chops with Mustard Sauce

• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 pork chops, bone-in
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped shallots or green onions (I had none of these at home, so used half a small red onion and that worked perfectly)
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 3/4 cup chicken stock
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 Tbsp chopped parsley (optional) (I used fresh coriander as that is what I had at home)

Dry the pork chops with paper towels. Season them with salt and pepper.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Stir in the butter. As soon as the butter has melted and slightly browned, add the pork chops to the pan and sear them for about 2-3 minutes on each side.

Remove the pork chops from the pan and pour off most of the fat.

Add the green onions or shallots and cook them on medium high heat for about 1 minute or until softened. Add half cup of the wine and bring to a boil, deglazing the pan by scraping the brown bits from the bottom of the pan (this is where all the flavour is!).

Stir in the stock and return chops to the pan. Bring sauce to a simmer, reduce the heat, cover and cook until chops are cooked through, about 10 to 15 minutes depending on thickness of chops.

Remove the pork chops to a warm platter; cover with foil to keep warm (I bunged mine into a warm oven for a while)

Then add the remaining half cup of wine. Increase the heat to high to boil the pan juices and reduce the juices by half, about 3 minutes (this took me a lot longer).

Add the heavy cream and continue to boil 3 minutes more or until sauce reduces and thickens, and scraping the pan with a wooden spoon leaves a trail. (This again took me ALOT longer, at least 10 minutes…I blame my crappy pans!)

Remove from the heat and whisk in the mustard and parsley, do this teaspoon by teaspoon until you get the taste you want. Place chops on a bed of sauce and serve.

It was a great meal, which we paired with roasted cauliflower and carrot and one that we will make again in the very near future!