Wednesday Dinner

      The store had some nice boneless pork chops when I did my weekly shopping, so I bought a couple.  Last night, I decided to try something different. 

      Seasoned them with a little of fancy flake salt and truffle salt, pepper, a touch of garlic powder and parsley, and browned them them in butter with a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce.  As the chops were browning, I diced a stalk of celery and a couple of big radishes and added them after the first turning.  Once both sides were nice and brown, I added a can of Campbell's Condensed Mushroom Soup, a can of Amy's Mushroom Bisque, and half a (Campbell's) can of water, stirred and deglazed it, put the lid on and left it to simmer.

      Ten minutes on, I lifted the lid, stirred it (turning a lovely golden brown) and pondered the thickness: not quite what I wanted.

      Tam had bought a bag of tiny, fresh, seasoned microwaveable potatoes* and I started them (seven minutes, then rest for a minute).

      I stirred up a teaspoon of cornstarch in a custard cup half full of cold water and added it to the gravy, bringing up the heat so it boiled a little, then put the lid back on and let it simmer more.

      By the time the potatoes were done, my digital meat thermometer was reporting the pork chops were ready.  The gravy was thickened just enough.  (Cornstarch is a cheat, since it works without having to make a roux.  Just be sparing with it.)

      The end result was tender and moist, and the gravy worked very well with the pork.  Fresh mushrooms would have fit in well, but it had lots of good flavor without them.
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* The microwave is your friend when it comes to baked potatoes; my standard big Idaho gets nuked (three minutes and turn for three more; repeat three and three and it's usually done, or four and four for the largest) and then wrapped in foil and parked at the back of the gas oven above the pilot or on a corner of the grill until the rest of dinner is ready.  You can add seasoning or a dab of butter when you wrap them if you'd like.