Rosemary Pork with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Black Truffle Sour Cream Sauce and Green Beans

Rosemary Pork with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes, Black Truffle Sour Cream Sauce and Green Beans









Recently I had the pleasure of touring Sterman Masser Potato Farms in Central Pennsylvania.  They are one of the largest grower, packer, and shipper of yummy spuds on the east coast.  I was lucky enough to get a guided tour of the facility, and man, if you can imagine a lot of potatoes, now double it, you still are not even close to the amount of potatoes these guys are handling.  They do everything from the basic russetsr to the blues, reds, and yes my personal favorite fingerling varieties.  They are even taking potatoes to a new level and have developed steamer bags, that you can just pop into a microwave and have a simple side dish for those busy nights.  If you think that Idaho has a lock on the potato market, well you might want to keep you "eye" on Central Pennsylvania as Sterman Masser has a serious amount of "skin" in the game.  In the picture above you can see just one of the massive rooms of potatoes.  (Couldn't help my self with the puns)

After my tour I was given a selection of some of their finest.  And this is the dish that was inspired by my great day at Sterman Masser.

2 Medium Thickness Pork Chops
1 lbs Finferling Potatoes
3 cups Fresh Cut Green Beans
1 tsp Black Truffle Butter (you can find this at William Sonoma, pricey but worth it)
1 cup sour cream
3-4 sprigs of Rosemary, chopped
Enough Powdered Rosemary
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
1/2 cup Vegetable Stock
1 finely diced Shallot
2 cloves finely diced Garlic
1 cup Red Wine (prefer pinot)

As for the above referenced measurement of "Enough", it is a valid measurement.  You will see me use it again, as there is no other term to describe the amount you will need.  I was first introduced to the term "Enough" by my mother and making pie crust.  See when she was a little girl, her father sent her to her great aunt to learn how to make pie crust, as nobody made pie crust like her great aunt, and my grandfather was a picky man.  So, my mom climbed up on a stool, paper and pen and hand, ready to transcribe the recipe for the worlds greatest pie crust.  My great, great, aunt (just aunt going forward) dumped some flour out onto the board and started plopping shortening in and kneading the dough around.  My mom quips, ok how much was that?  And my aunt in all of her home grown cooking glory says "Enough".  My mom asked for clarification on enough, to which my aunt replied "Until it is short".  Baffled my mother tried to define measurement of these two new term, enough and short, only to discover they are completely accurate.  As when making pie crust the ratio of flour, water and shortening depends on elevation, humidity, and general feel of the dough, there is no quantitative measurement that quite gets it right.  When it was my turn to learn how to make pie crust, I went through the same baffling experience.  But after many failed attempts, I now understand that it is a feel, a feel you can only get from experience.  As I continued to learn to cook, my mother often times used the term "Enough" and now I can't find a better way to describe certain elements of cooking.  You can always shoot me an email when you finally understand the term, and we can have a small chuckle.

First the potatoes.  Quarter cut the potatoes.  You can practice your knife skills here and make them into wedge shapes for presentation, but just remember to keep the pieces as uniform as possible.  Spread them out on a cooking sheet and coat with enough olive oil.  The oil is going to keep the seasoning stuck to the potato during baking.  So you need enough, but don't drown them in oil.  Sprinkle with sea salt, cracked black pepper, garlic powder, rosemary powder, and copped fresh rosemary.  I use both as the powder insures that you get a uniform flavor, but the fresh adds something you can't get from powder. Place in oven at 425 degrees, and leave them alone.

Season pork chops with salt, pepper, garlic powder, rosemary powder, fresh rosemary. Heat a sautéing pan (that is the skillet with the straight up and down sides) to medium high. Coat pan with olive oil.  Place chops in pan and sear meat until browned on both sides.  Transfer pork into a small pyrex roasting roasting dish, pour in a red wine until pork is half submerged, add additional rosemary to wine.  Cover with foil and place in oven.

In a medium sauce pan put green beans and cover in water, season water with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Place on medium heat and let cook beans.  Be careful not to get to hard boil, if you need turn temp down.

Back to the sautéing pan, make sure pan is still hot.  Add more olive oil, once oil is hot add shallots and garlic.  Sautee until brown.  Deglaze pan with vegetable stock.  On "deglazing", the idea here is to add a cool liquid to a hot pan.  When you do this the yummy bits and dried flavors on the bottom of the pan come up and join the party with the liquid and other ingredients in the pan, while most amateur cooks think those black and brown bits on the bottom of the pan are burnt, good cooks know it is chalk full of flavor.  Now don't get me wrong here, if you burnt you garlic or shallot, deglazing will not get rid of that foul taste, but if the meat, garlic, and shallot were all cooked properly the explosion of flavor you are adding to the sauce is amazing.  The liquid you use can be all kinds of things, but most commonly they are wine or stock.  Use of liquors is also common, but make sure you burn of the alcohol when doing this, you can either cook it down for a while or catch it on fire (have your fire extinguisher near by, congrats now you look like a TV chef).

Allow the stock you just added to boil down until about 25% has evaporated.  Add sour cream, as the sour cream melts, add truffle butter.  Keep stirring until the butter melts and the sauce gets to the consistency you desire.  It is a thin sauce so do not go looking for alfredo here. 

Pull potatoes and pork from oven.  Plate and serve. 

Enjoy!