Demi-Glace Pork Chop with a Napoleon of Egg, Mushroom, and Rice

I received a text shortly after lunch from a friend who asked "what's for dinner?". After just having lunch it's hard to think about dinner already but I replied back "what are you hungry for?". Her answer was either pork or chicken but said she would be happy with eggs and steamed rice. When I thought about making this dish I didn't think it was going to be very complicated but after starting on it, it took a lot more ingredients than I anticipated. What you see from left to right is: a napoleon of eggs cooked over easy, braised mushrooms, and steamed rice. The pork chop was seasoned with salt and pepper and seared before topping off with an apple demi-glace and baked in the oven. The "jus" on the right is the remaining liquid from the braised mushrooms.

Ingredients:

4 - 1 1/2 inch cut pork chops (bone in)
32 ounces or 4 cups beef stock
1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 carrot (peeled and chopped)
1 leek (roughly chopped - white parts only)
1 green apple (diced)
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 tablespoon black pepper
4-5 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
4 eggs (cooked over easy)
10 button mushrooms (1/4 inch slices)
4 cups cooked Jasmin rice

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Season both sides of the pork chop with salt and pepper. Let this sit while creating your demi-glace.

To start the demi-glace add 16 ounces or 2 cups of beef stock to a stock pot on medium high heat. Wrap the green leafy part of the leak around the thyme and bay leaves and tie it up. Add this to the beef stock.

In a separate pan, add olive oil and turn the heat to medium high. Next, add the carrots, leeks and apples. Sauté this mixture until the leaks are caramelized. Then add the hot beef stock that was previously heated up. Cover and cook on medium heat for 25-30 minutes.

In another stock pot, add the butter and flour and create a roux. Next, using a fine mesh sieve, strain the liquid from the beef stock and vegetable mixture into the stock pot and whisk for about 4 minutes or until it starts to thicken a bit and should have the consistency of light gravy.

Time to sear the pork chops. On a hot grill pan or cast iron skillet, sear each side of the pork chop for about 3-4 minutes. Searing the pork chops will seal in the salt and pepper flavor. Place the pork chops in a casserole dish and top it off with the demi-glace. Place pork chops on the middle rack of the preheated oven and cook for 25-30 minutes or when the internal temperature has reached 165 degrees (If you don't have an instant read thermometer, you should go get one - this is a time where you don't want to guess if the meat is cooked or not and slicing into will release the internal juices.) Let this rest for at least 5 minutes before serving.

The prepare your braised mushrooms, add 16 ounces or 2 cups of beef stock to a stock pot on medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, and 1 sprig of fresh thyme. Let this cook and reduce to half the amount of liquid you started with (or 1 cup). Separate the mushrooms and the "jus". You'll use the mushrooms for the napoleon and the "jus" to dip your pork chop into.

To create the napoleon I used a round ramekin and layered the bottom with the mushrooms and rice. Make sure you push down so that it is compact and tight, otherwise this may fall apart when removing from the ramekin. When plating, flip the ramekin upside down and give it a gentle tap and the contents should easily come out. Next, place the egg on top of the mushroom (I trimmed the egg whites around the yolk off with a round cutter).

This dish took about an hour and fifteen minutes from start to finish. Like I stated earlier, this may seem  complicated but it really isn't. It just has a lot of ingredients and components but your end result will be delicious.