Spicy Cranberry Wine Sauce

I'm not a huge fan of pork chops.  While I LOVE bacon and don't mind using pork in dishes like spicy pork stir-fry, pork chops are not one of my favorite proteins.  When I was growing up, my mom made some really wonderful Korean pork dishes that were tender and spicy.  But my family rarely ate pork chops, which seemed like a chewy and heavy meat.  I think there is something about the texture and heaviness of pork chops that I just can't get comfortable with.

Bret, on the other hand, loves pork chops.  One of his favorite bachelor meals was shake and bake pork chops with applesauce.  But after we moved in together and I took over the cooking, pork chops are rarely seen on the menu.  Bret had a craving for pork chops on Wednesday night and knowing my disdain for the protein, he promised to pound it thin, bread it lightly and pan-fry it.  In other words, he would make pork scallopini.  

I wanted to make a nice cranberry sauce to go along with the pork scallopini so when I got home from the gym, I made a warm spicy cranberry wine sauce using a lot of different leftover ingredients I had on hand.

To start, I thawed out a bag of frozen cranberries from the freezer.

When the cranberries were no longer frozen, I put them in the Dutch oven with a splash of olive oil.

As the cranberries began to warm up, I added a cup of Petite Sirah to the pot.  This wine was the tiny bit leftover from Saturday night and I wanted to put it to good use.

I also threw a few sprigs of rosemary into the pan, which were also leftover from the blogger-inspired turkey en croute.

I put a lid on the Dutch oven and let the cranberries pop open while the red wine cooked down.  I probably let this go on for a good fifteen minutes at medium heat until the popping sound started to slow down.  When I uncovered the Dutch oven, I realized that the wine had cooked down too much, so I added a cup and a half of cold water to the pan to give it a little more liquid.  I also added a quarter cup of golden raisins that I had leftover from the Cranberry Raspberry Rugelach recipe.

I removed the rosemary and added a few pinches each of salt, fresh cracked black pepper and cayenne pepper.  I let the sauce thicken up on the stove and gave the cranberry sauce a good stir now and again.  I found a lemon and two limes in the fridge, whose peel had also been used for the turkey en croute.  I squeezed the juice of the lemon and limes into the cranberry sauce.

When I tasted the spicy cranberry sauce, it had a lot of great layers of flavor - tartness from the cranberries, richness from the wine, earthiness from the rosemary, brightness from the citrus and spiciness from the cayenne.  But the sauce needed a little sweetness so I added a few tablespoons of Xagave to the sauce and it was perfect.  I let the sauce simmer while Bret fried up the pork scallopini and then dinner was ready to be served!

The pork wasn't pounded as thinly as I would have liked and I suggested that we butterfly the pork chops next time before pounding them thin.  But still, they were less heavy than traditional baked pork chops and I loved the lightly breaded and fried crispy texture.  Bret loved the spicy cranberry wine sauce and said it went perfectly with the pork.

Tell me, do you like pork chops?  If so, how do you like to prepare them?