Day Twenty Nine - Luxembourg

Welkomm! Tonight we visit a country that has fascinated me since I did a report on it in Mrs. McCallister's third grade class.  Luxembourg is one of the smallest countries in the Europe, and far down on the size list for the entire world.  It's capital is Luxembourg City.  It has a Grand Duke (I could go on and on and on...)

Landlocked between Belgium, Germany, and France, this tiny nation is often thought of as a "go-between" state.  Much of it's cultural identity comes from it's neighbors.  I had picked this country simply because of that report I had written when I was a kid (read "written" as "drew in crayon"). However, I was very excited to discover that Luxembourg had some distinct national dishes. I decided to go away from it's variant of blood sausage...because I didn't want Elizabeth to leave me with only a couple more stops to go.  Instead, I went with what is widely considered to be the national dish of the Luxembourg people.


Judd mat gaardebounen

2 center cut pork chops, bone-in
Liberal dashes of Worcestershire sauce
1 cup dry lima beans (I should have used fava beans, but was unable to locate said beans and this was an acceptable substitute)
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 bunch leeks, chopped
4 green onions, diced
3 cups white wine (I used pinot grigio)
1 cup beef broth
1 tablespoon savory
1 tablespoon parsley
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon cornstarch

First off, this was a dish that I took several liberties with regarding the recipe.  Some of this was due to the time I had available, and some of it was due to a lack of ingredients when I went to the local grocery store.  In any case, I did the best with what I had.

To start, I splashed the pork chops with the Worcestershire sauce and let them sit in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

Next, I soaked the lima beans and then brought them to a boil for about 20 minutes as well.

I then chopped the celery, carrots, leeks,and green onions.  I heated a skillet and added the butter and the savory and parsley.  I cooked for a couple of minutes, and then added the chopped vegetable, stirring well.

I let the juices from the vegetables come out a bit, and then added the wine and the beef stock slowly. I continued to stir, and then added the corn starch to make a roux (lucky for me I had a roux spoon given to me by a friend in New Orleans, thanks Ashton!)

As the vegetables and liquids were cooking, making a sauce, I cooked the pork chops in a small pan. I added splashes of the wine to give it some flavor, and then poured off the juices into the skillet with the vegetable mixture.

Once the pork chops were browned, I added the boiled lima beans to the sauce pan and mixed thoroughly.

With the aforementioned roux spoon

The result...

...tastes surprisingly great!  Neither Elizabeth nor I knew if tonight would turn out (honestly, I'm not sure if many people even know Luxembourg exists).  But we were both very pleased with it.  The sauce had a wonderful flavor to it, sweet and tangy.  The pork chop was cooked perfectly, and Elizabeth's search for a perfect bite yielded wonderful results with tonight's dish.  The lima beans could have been cooked for a little bit longer, but otherwise, this one turned out great, and it's definitely going on the list of recipes that I will try again in the future.

I am so happy that the little country that I've always had a soft spot for was able to produce such a great meal. We came within 2 hours of it when we were on our European adventure, and I'm kicking myself that we didn't make the detour.  Based on tonight's success, if we ever do make it back Europe, we'll have to make a stop to Luxembourg a reality.