Pork saute with red miso sauce 豚肉のソーテー赤味噌ソース

This is part of a whole pork loin we bought on sale a few days ago. From this one piece of meat, I made six 1 inch thick chops, an oven roast and a Sino-Japanese style pot roast. This dish is made with 2 of the chops and served with red miso honey sauce.

Red miso sauce (for 2 serving as shown above):　I used red miso (1 tbs) which is mostly made of soybeans and is rather salty and has a somewhat bitter taste. I added warm dashi broth (2 tbs) and dissolved it over a very low flame. When the miso dissolved, I added sugar (1 tsp) and honey (1 tsp). I then added, a good ol' American ketchup (1 tbs). I kept stirring until it came to a simmer and reduced to a thick saucy consistency. I tasted and adjusted the seasonings (slightly more sugar). If it gets too thick, add a bit more dashi, sake, or water. I finished the sauce by incorporating a small amount of butter (1 tsp).

Pork chops: The chops were marinated in sake for a few days. This keeps the meat from spoiling too quickly as well as making the porky flavor mild. After blotting the moisture from the surface of the chops, I seasoned with salt and pepper and dredged in flour. I fried them in a small amount of vegetable oil on a medium flame to make both sides brown (2-3 minutes on each side) and then turned the flame down to complete cooking (another 4-5 minutes).

Since we are eating this with chopsticks, I pre-cut the pork chops and put on the sauce. For the accompaniment, we had nice French green beans (much tastier and skinnier than regular green beans), briefly boiled in salt water (still crispy) and then sauteed in butter with finely chopped shallot and garlic seasoned with salt and pepper. I also served leftover mashed popatoes reheated.  My wife made these a few days ago from boiled red potatoes seasoned with creme fraiche and soy sauce. (Don't ask me how she came up with this combination but it tastes pretty good.) I made this into a sort of a potato pancake. I simply pressed the mashed potatoes into a thin disk in a small non-stick frying pan with melted butter. I fried one side until browned and flipped it over to brown the other side.

Everything went very well. The red miso sauce has a salty nutty flavor and gentle sweetness. The slight bitterness of the miso goes well with the richness of the pork. Ketchup also adds to the dimension of the sauce and final addtion of butter made it richer.

We had this with Casali di Bibbiano Argante Toscana Rosso Red Blend 2006. This is a Super-Tuscan made of no Sangiovese but Cabernet Sauvignon (70%) and Merlot (30%). It tastes more like a good California cab. This is very nice red which went well with the pork and the red miso sauce.

Wine Spectator gave 91 score with a comment; "Blackberry jam and sandalwood aromas, with fresh herbs. Full-bodied, with velvety tannins and jammy fruit. Tannic and rich. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best after 2011."(ws)