Pork Chops with Quinoa

On Tuesday night, I wanted to go a little outside the normal zone. I'm pretty comfortable making pork tenderloins, but I haven't really done much with pork chops. This past weekend I purchased some butterflied boneless pork chops, but didn't have anything specific in mind.

I did have some leftover butternut squash that I tossed in nutmeg from a few days ago. To the squash, I added some half-and-half cream, and a few leaves of tarragon and pureed it all to a smooth slightly-runny consistency.

For the pork chops,I put a touch of salt and pepper on both sides and I ran them through an egg wash on both sides and coated them in bread crumbs. Once coated in the bread crumbs, I added some sprigs of rosemary to the chops. Over medium heat I melted 4 tablespoons of butter and cooked the chops 7 minutes per side. Once I flipped them over, I added some leftover champagne from New Year's Eve as a deglazing agent in the pan. This added an excellent touch of flavor to the chops as the finished product.

I used the butternut squash puree as an accent splash on the plate and a small portion of dipping sauce for the chops. As a side dish, I made some quinoa in lieu of rice. Quinoa is a Peruvian grain that is considered a "superfood" due to its high quantity of vitamins and grain. It was a package that was garden vegetable flavored, not the pure quinoa in its raw state, but it was still tasty. It has a slightly crunchy texture to it. I also made some broccoli and just melted some butter on it and sprinkled some garlic salt.

I still prefer tenderloin (and was intrigued by the pork belly), but the pork chops were quite tasty.