Tasty Tuesday: Pork Chops with Mushroom Cream Sauce

Lou's parents took us to see the Bellingham High School production of South Pacific on Saturday. The show was fantastic -- an excellent story, well sung and very well acted. I had never seen it before, and we had a great time.

I made dinner. Normally I would not choose to risk a new recipe on anyone but Lou, especially not when adapting it so much from the original. But I felt adventurous, and it turned out well enough to make this week's Tasty Tuesday.

Dites-moi, pourquoi la vie est belle ...

Pork Chops with Mushroom Cream Sauce

About 3 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp butter
1/2 - 3/4 cup minced onion
8 oz sliced mushrooms
5-6 medium size pork chops
1 cup cooking sherry
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper

Turn oven to 350 degrees.

Heat oil and butter together in skillet (yeah, it seemed weird to me too) until butter is fully melted and bubbling. Add onions and cook till clear; then add mushrooms and cook lightly. Remove onions and mushrooms with slotted spoon, leaving liquid in skillet; reserve the vegetables and turn heat up to medium-high.

Add the pork chops to the skillet, salting and peppering well, and brown on both sides (about three minutes per side.) Remove from skillet, place on a baking sheet and put in oven to finish cooking.

Return mushrooms and onion to skillet and add sherry and cream. Cook, stirring constantly, until sauce thickens slightly. I kept the heat high, but it does need watching and stirring.

I served this on a bed of sticky rice (put the rice down, set a pork chop on top, spoon sauce over everything) and put a Caesar salad on the side. It turned out quite well. Next time, I think I'll experiment further, perhaps including the pecans that were in the recipe from which I adapted this and a little hot pepper.