One of the best techniques you can learn is how to sear roast and make a pan sauce. This is a simple method and will dramatically improve the quality of your home cooked meals.
Any meat can be seared and then roasted including fish. This is best done in a heavy cast iron pan that is oven safe.
Preheat your oven to it's highest temperature which is probably 500 degrees. Be warned that this technique can create quite a bit of smoke. A hood vent should be used or you'll need to open some windows!
Season your meat with salt and pepper. Heat your skillet on the stove top until hot. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and swirl to coat the pan.
Place meat in the pan and leave untouched until well browned. Flip and repeat on the second side. Approximately 2 minutes per side. Carefully move the pan to the preheated oven and roast until desired doneness. Transfer the meat to a heated platter and tent with foil.
Place the hot pan back on the burner and begin your pan sauce by deglazing the pan with 1/2 cup of white wine, add 2 tablespoons minced shallots and cook until the alcohol burns off. Add 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard and 1/2 cup of stock. Season with salt and pepper and lightly thicken with either 2 tablespoons of butter or heavy cream.
Last night I used this technique to make pork chops. Total cooking time was only 15 minutes and the sauce was delicious! Mastering this simple technique will turn your family meals into restaurant quality.
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Location:Whidbey Island
Looks so good. Pan sauce makes all the difference. I learned how good the browned bits were when I would be cleaning up after a meal and would taste the bits left in the pan.
ReplyDeleteAnd it makes cleaning the pan a breeze. I used to have to spend time scraping them off the pan not realizing they were an important part of the dish.
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