Dining In

Mountain Dining In

Stuffed Pork Chops, Port wine reduction sauce, and Acorn Squash with Cranberries and Pecans

This dish is simple to prepare because most of the effort is already done for you. The stuffed pork chops can be purchased from the Safeway Truckee meat counter. They are quite good and reasonably lean. The Port wine and dried cherries reduction sauce is quickly heated over the stove and puréed in a blender. The acorn squash is cooked in the microwave for 20 minutes. Its easy!

Ingredients:

Acorn squash cut in half, seeds hollowed out.

Butter, about teaspoon for each half of the acorn squash.

Brown sugar, dark, about 2 tablespoons for each of the half acorn squash.

Whole berry cranberry sauce.

Whole pecans.

Pork chops (stuffed).

Port wine (1 cup, inexpensive).

Died cherries (1/2 cup).

Ground cinnamon

Ground cloves

Simple to prepare and delicious to eat

Preparation:

Cooking the pork chops requires the most time, so prepare them first.

· If you purchased pork chops already stuffed, just tent them in aluminum foil in a baking dish.

· Bake the tented pork chops in a 450 degree oven for about 30 to 50 minutes (until cooked thru).

The acorn squash is next in time to cook, so prepare them while the pork chops are baking in the oven.

· Cut the acorn squash in half length-wise (using a heavy knife helps).

· With a spoon hollow out and discard the seeds and stringy material around the seeds.

· Place a small pat of butter (we prefer unsalted) in each squash.

· Cover the butter with about two tablespoons of dark brown sugar.

· Fill the remainder of each acorn squash with whole berry cranberry sauce.

· Place each half acorn squash in a shallow baking dish. Pour several tablespoons of water in the dish (not much, just adds some moisture so the squash does not dry out). Seal the dish with plastic wrap, punch several holes in the plastic wrap to allow steam to escape.

· Cook acorn squash in a microwave set to high heat for 20 minutes.

While the pork chops and acorn squash are cooking, prepare the Port wine and cherries reductions sauce.

Pour 1 cup of Port wine into a sauce pan.

Add the dried cherries to the sauce pan.

Sprinkle ground cinnamon and ground cloves over the mixture.

Soak cherries in unheated Port wine for 15 minutes.

Bring to a quick boil, then simmer about 10 minutes to evaporate the alcohol.

Put in blender and blend the reduced port wine and cherries. Transfer to a small dish used for pouring. Put the backed pork chop on your plate and pour the reduction sauce over the pork chop. A relaxing meal after a day of skiing or snow shoeing at Lake Tahoe or Truckee.

Place pork chops in baking dish.

Create a tent around the pork chops and bake in oven at 450 degrees

Hollow out acorn squash halves, add butter and brown sugar

Add cranberry sauce, pecan nuts to acorn squash, and small amount of water to baking dish.

Reduce Port wine, cherries, and spices

Finished squash, pork chops, and puréed reduction sauce

Enjoy a great meal that is easy to prepare!