July 31, 2015 Dinner - Sautéed Pork Chop with Calabacitas

July 31, 2015  Dinner- Sautéed Pork Chops with Calabacitas

I ate lax and cream cheese on French baguette for breakfast.

For lunch I made a salad with PPI Roasted chicken, muenster cheese, fresh tomatoes, sliced cucumber, and basil from our garden, plus a sliced green onion and made a balsamic and Spanish olive oil dressing

Suzette was driving in from Santa Rosa, so I started cooking at 6:00.  I decided to make Calabacitas, so I chopped Mexican squash, ½ small onion, 3 cloves of garlic, the leaves from three stalks of oregano (about 3 Tbsp.) and the kernels from 2 ears of corn. 

When Suzette arrived I asked her if she wanted pork or lamb chops and she said, “Pork.” We decided to drink a rose, so I went to the basement and fetched a bottle of 2013 Vina Rubican from the Navarra region of Spain (Total Wine $7.99 less 15%) and put it into the freezer to chill.  We liked what seemed to be the Grenade and Tempranillo grape blend with the pork but when I went to the web and located the Rubican site found this interesting explanation of how the wine was made that explains its slightly tannic flavor.  I learned something new; How Navarra winemakers process their grapes to make a rose wine with a Tempranillo flavor profile.

Here is what the Winery says about the production of their wine: 

This wine comes 100 % from grapes of the Garnacha variety. It is made in the traditional manner of Navarre rosés, by macerating the must in contact with the seeded and stemmed grapes, then draining off and fermenting it slowly at a controlled temperature that never exceeds 18º.

The result is a strawberry pink wine, more or less intensely coloured depending on maceration time during processing, resulting very brilliant and clean.

The picture below of the plate of food shows the glass of wine and its dark red strawberry color.  

A new and very interesting rose wine experience.

Then we fired up the Louisiana cooker and were able to adjust the flame in such a way that we could simmer the vegetables covered by a wok cover for fifteen minutes.  

I heated 2 Tbsp. of butter and 2 Tbsp. of Spanish olive (Sprouts $7,99 per liter) mixed with the residue of the balsamic dressing I had made for my salad at lunch to flavor the oil and then added the pile of chopped ingredients.

After the vegetables were cooked we put the two pork chops in another smaller cast iron skillet and Suzette sautéed those until their flesh was a light pink.  

The vegetables were sensational, steamed and sautéed to perfection with a very pleasing flavor of oregano.  I learned that a lot of oregano can be a pleasant ingredient and Suzette said it is healthy to eat, so Calabacitas is going on our Summer dinner menu.  The pork chops were also delicious, even though they lacked a sauce.  We enjoyed our Spanish meal.  After dinner I toasted a piece of Fano French baguette, buttered the toasted slices and ate them with slices of Manchego cheese for a nice Spanish touch to finish dinner with the last sips of the Navarra Rose wine.

Bon Appetit