Lime Juice, Pork, Brussels Sprouts and Downton Abbey
I was ridiculously tired last night. Ernie built me a fire and I tried to figure out what to cook for dinner while I nagged the guys to go take showers. I was tired but I wanted to cook....to somehow stake a claim to the end of the weekend. Eventually I decided on one of my favorite recipes for pork chops. We don't eat pork chops all that often but it seems whenever we do I end up posting about them on here....so I guess I really like pork chops. I swear I've posted this recipe before but I couldn't find it so here goes. This is nice because you don't have to marinate it terribly long which is good for those of us who don't plan ahead.
Sweet & Garlicky Pork Chops
from Steven Raichlin's Barbecue Bible
4 thick (at least 1 inch) or 8 thin pork chops
1 head garlic, broken into cloves & peeled
3 Tbl. sugar
1/3 cup Asian fish sauce or Soy Sauce
3 Tbl. honey
3 Tbl. rice wine
2 Tbl. Sesame oil
1 Tbl. peeled & grated fresh ginger
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
Make 1 or 2 cuts in the fat side of each porkchop to keep them from curling during grilling. Arrange the chops in a bakingdish and set aside. Combine the garlic and sugar in a food processor andprocess to a paste. Work in the fish sauce, honey, rice wine, sesame oil,ginger, salt and pepper. Using a rubber spatula, spread the mixture over bothsides of the chops. Let marinate in the refrigerator, covered, for 1 - 2 hours.
Grill until nicelybrowned on both sides and cooked through, about 4 - 6 minutes per side forthick chops. If using thin chops, about 2 - 4 minutes per side.
They are probably best grilled but I used a cast iron grill pan and they were perfect.
With them we had avocado rice. I took three avocados that were very ripe and mashed them with a little lime juice and salt and pepper and stirred them into the rice. While the pork chops were marinating I roasted some brussels sprout halves for the salad. I just cut them in half, tossed them with a bit of olive oil and roasted them cut side down at 450 degrees for about 10-12 minutes. Then I made a quick little vinaigrette of lime juice, olive oil, ginger, cilantro, sugar and a bit of hoisin sauce. After grilling the pork chops we topped them with the leftover chopped cilantro and ginger. A lovely meal if I do say so myself.
Then it was time for Downton Abbey, a little random tv and bed. I'm looking forward to not having to work next weekend.