Dinner-October 20, 2011-One Skillet Dinner of Smoked Pork Chops

Dinner October 20, 2011

One Skillet Dinner of Smoked Pork Chops and Leftover Brussels Sprouts

Today was a shopping day.  At lunch I went to Sunflower Market and purchased lovely green beans ($1.79 per pound), an artichoke, two Italian sweet sausages, two parsnips, and a ½ pound of fresh mushrooms for the pot roast dinner Friday night.  Then I went to Jubilation and picked up three bottles of 3 for $10.00 wines: a South African Chenin Blanc, a California Pinot Grigio and a California Cabernet Sauvignon, plus a bottle of Calvados and a bottle of Orange Liquor. 

When Suzette came home, we went to Costco and purchased the Chuck roast and five packages of duck halves (See Dinner-October 18, 2011). 

When we returned home Suzette was not feeling like cooking so I threw together a one skillet meal of smoked pork chops, onions, a sliced Jonathan apple and onion slices sautéed in butter and grape seed oil with sliced fresh sage and a sliced clove of garlic.

When the dish was almost ready we threw in the ¾ cup of left over roasted Brussels sprouts, onions and pinon nuts from October 18, 2011 (See Dinner-October 18, 2011).  Pretty tasty

We tried the South African Chenin Blanc with it, but the wine's taste was so muddy that Suzette could not finish hers.  I drank three glasses with the aid of an ice cube to mask and chill the muddiness/earthiness of the wine’s terroir.  Most of the South African wines I have tried seem earthy to me.  That earthy flavor seems okay for the Syrahs but not so good for the others.

One lesson from this meal is that a good wine can enhance a meal and a bad wine can detract from the enjoyment of a meal.

As my old friend Ed Louden used to say, “Life is too short to drink bad wine”.  In fairness to the rest of us, Ed started Bacchus Wines, so he had access to the best wines in the world.

Bon Apetit