Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Grilled Pork Chops and Roasted Asparagus


This plate of meat dedicated to Martin!

We made a marinade (not a brine) for these bone-in shoulder blade pork chops consisting of: olive oil, white wine, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, dried thyme, dried oregano, smoked paprika, kosher salt, and cracked black pepper. Into the freezer bag and squished around to evenly distribute that delicious sauce, then the pork chops spent a relaxing day in the fridge getting to know their new flavor.

When we were ready to go, we preheated the grill to medium-high AND the oven to 425. We chopped a bunch of asparagus (asparagi?) into 2-inch long pieces, added them to a baking dish, and combined them with the juice of an orange, soy sauce, chopped scallions, garlic powder, salt, and some crushed red pepper. Those asparagi would take a total of 15 minutes roasting time...



These pork chops were maybe 3/4" thick, so we pre-set a time of 6 minutes on the first side, 5 on the other. Chops on, 1/4 spin after 3 minutes, flipped after another 3, and back off after 5. Sit and rest, done and done.

And they came out wonderfully... a very flavorful marinade that - for once - didn't impart "too much!" of anything (salt, pepper, hot sauce are the usual culprits). Very tender - perfectly cooked. And that meat right on the bone??? Yum!

Tangy, still-slightly-crunchy asparagus and some whole wheat mac-and-cheese made for great accompaniment. Plus.... leftovers!

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

1 comment:

sher said...

That looks wonderful!