Better than a highball

One-Pan Whiskey-Flavored Pork Chops
The Best of Cooking Light Copyright 2004

2/3 cup fat-free sour cream I used light sour cream
½ cup water
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon dried rubbed sage
¼ teaspoon black pepper
4 (6-ounce) bone-in center-cut pork chops, trimmed I used boneless loin chops
¼ teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon olive oil
½ cup chopped onion
1 (8-ounce) package presliced mushrooms
½ cup whiskey

1. Preheat over to 300 degrees.
2. Combine the first six ingredients in a small bowl.
3. Sprinkle the pork with ¼ teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Heat oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork; sauté 5 minutes on each side until golden. Remove pork from pan. Add onion and mushrooms to pan; sauté 3 minutes. Carefully add whiskey to pan and cook 1 minute or until liquid almost evaporates. Stir sour cream mixture into pan. Return pork to pan; spoon sauce over pork.
4. Wrap the handle of the skillet with foil. Cover and bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour. Serve immediately.

This recipe is definitely a keeper. It has a spicy, peppery taste which I think is from the whiskey since there isn't an unusual amount of pepper in these. There isn't a pronounced whiskey taste either so I'm guessing the whiskey brings that peppery flavor to the table.

I didn't have the guts to use fat-free sour cream but Cooking Light is usually pretty good about not sacrificing taste over fat so I don't think they would have called for fat-free if it wouldn't work. I just couldn't bring myself to buy fat-free sour cream.

I have a year's worth of Cooking Light magazine in my collection but it's difficult to track down recipes in the individual issues. The Best of Cooking Light is much easier to work with. What I like about the people at Cooking Light is that I really believe they try to make food that tastes good, first and foremost. They'll use higher-fat ingredients in moderation when necessary. This is a very usable cookbook for anyone, not just dieters. We should all be cooking like this, most of the time anyway.