Pork Chops with Sage and Shallot Pan Sauce

 

This spring, I planted a vegetable garden along with some herbs in pots.  My veggies are still growing (nothing ready to harvest yet), but my herbs are looking fantastic! 

So I decided to use one of my herbs, sage in a pork dish for dinner.  This is a simple and quick weeknight dinner recipe for pork chops with a light sauce.  You can serve over mashed potatoes or rice (or probably quinoa, but I'm still trying to work with that 'grain' before I start throwing it in to everything) with a side salad for a complete meal.

Ingredients
2 pork chops
salt and pepper
1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons of sage
1 shallot
1/3 cup of chicken stock
1 tablespoon of butter

Preparation
1.  Sprinkle pork chops with salt and pepper and let stand for 10-15 minutes.

2.  Dice shallot.

3.  Chop sage leaves -- stack in a pile, roll and chop cross-wise.

4.  Heat a shallow skillet over medium  high heat and add olive oil.  Bring oil up in temperature and add pork chops to the skillet.  Cook on each side until lightly browned (about 3 minutes per side).

3.  Remove pork chops from pan, lower the heat to medium and add 1/2 of the tablespoon of butter.  Add the shallots to the pan and saute until slightly tender, about 3 minutes.

4.  Add the sage to the skillet and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

5.  Deglaze the pan with the 1/3 cup of chicken stock by bringing up the heat to medium-high, allowing the stock to boil, and then bringing down the heat to medium to lightly simmer and reduce sauce to about half (about 10 minutes).

6.  Add pork chops back to the pan to warm and coat with sauce.  Add 1/2 tablespoon of butter to the pan to richen.  Salt and pepper to taste.

7.  Remove pork chops, spoon sauce over pork chops and serve!