This dish is about the sauce, really. Green onions usually wind up in a support role, but here they get to shine and their flavor comes through. This sauce is based on a classic French Sauce Soubise, which is an onion-flavored béchamel-heavier and much more labor intensive. This sauce, by the way, is very popular in the classes I teach to middle-schoolers. Quick and easy, try it with chicken or salmon. It would work with hearty grains such as wheat berries or with braised firm tofu. A combination of grains, mushrooms and tofu would go quite well with this sauce.
INGREDIENTS:
4 4-ounce pork boneless center-cut chops (loin or tenderloin) 1 bunch of scallions, or enough to make 1 cup of sliced scallion, green and white parts 4 ounces of white wine (Chenin blanc, chardonnay, or riesling) You can substitute stock for the wine if you prefer. 1 teaspoon fresh herbs, chopped. (Depending on the wine, the herbs will change-fresh sage for the Chenin Blanc, thyme for the chardonnay or riesling. Sage and riesling seems a bad idea to me.) 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pea sized cubes and kept very cold. (You may not use it all, but best to be prepared.) Salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste 1 tablespoon grapeseed or canola oil
METHOD:
Use a sharp knife or kitchen scissors to trim off the roots from the scallions. Proceed and slice the onions very thinly. Keep the sliced whites separate from the sliced greens.
Season the pork chops with salt and pepper, and a little of whichever herbs you are using.
Heat a sauté pan large enough to hold the pork chops over medium-high heat.
When the pan is very hot, add the oil. When hot, add the pork chops and cook. Cook through, browning both sides. This should take around 4 minutes per side. When cooked, remove to a plate and cover loosely to keep warm.
Return the pan to the heat and reduce heat to medium. Add a little butter to the pan and add the herbs and the white parts of the scallions. Cook just long enough for them to turn a little translucent and lose their raw-ness.
Add the wine to the pan. Scrape the pan bottom to loosen the bits that may be there. Cook to reduce the wine by 80%. Just at it reaches this point, add in the green parts of the scallions.
Pull the pan from the heat, and add in around 1 tablespoon of the butter cubes. Swirl the pan to melt the butter and get it to incorporate into the wine. If the pan cools and the butter is melting too slowly, return the pan to the heat. Continue to add the little bits of butter a few at a time, swirling the pan to incorporate the butter without allowing it to melt too rapidly. The idea is to keep the butter thick, rather than allowing to thin too much and separate. Keep adding the butter chunks until the sauce is thick and almost creamy looking.
Add any juices from the meat into the sauce, and swirl the pan to incorporate if need be.
Pour the sauce over the meat and serve.
SERVES: 4
Source: Chef Andrew E Cohen
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