Pork Chops with Chanterelle Mushroom Israeli Couscous

I haven't posted in a while so I went to the store with the idea of

smothered pork chops so I could use my new Le Creuset deep cover saute pan.

I got the chops, shallots, tomatoes and dried chanterelle mushrooms.

I already had cucumbers, carrots, celery, dates, italian parsley and garlic.

First I brined the chops for a few hours in a mixture of salt, 

sugar, peppercorns and bay leaf.

I then created my mise en place!

Hey, I'm in culinary school so I may start using some

fancy words here.

Mise en place, simply means everything in its place,

or get all your ingredients prepared before you start cooking.

I reconstituted the mushrooms in boiling water.

I plan to use both the mushys and the mushy stock.

I started by sauteing my mirepoix in clarified butter, accept I used shallots

instead of onions, I also added the garlic.  

I took this mixture out and seared the chops in the same pan.

I par boiled the Israeli couscous and added the mirepoix, mushys/stock

and dates.  After the chops were browned, I put everything back into the

pan and baked them in the oven for about 18 minutes.

I scooped the veggie couscous and mounded on the plate, then I placed 

the chop on top.  For the other side, I fanned out alternating

tomato and cucumber slices.

This turned out awesome!  The pork chops were moist and delicious.

The couscous had a great mushyroom flavor.

This is the first time that I've used dried mushrooms, and I will 

start doing it more often.

I got 3 thumbs up on this one.