Pork Loin (3) - Grilled Pork Loin Chops

If you recall I'm doing a series of posts on what I did with a pork loin bought on sale at a reasonably good price.  A pork loin can be stretched into several meals making it a rather frugal choice of meat.  At the same time pork loin is lower in fat that other cuts or pork making it a heart healthy choice.

I cut three 1 - inch thick slices from the pork loin to grill for dinner that night.  We like this thickness as it keeps the meat from drying out especially when grilling.  The end result is a nice, moist grilled pork loin.

One of these slices is enough meat for a serving.  We used each had one for dinner with one left-over for my husband's lunch the following day.  If you recall I am making his heavier meal for lunch so he can eat lighter at our regular dinner hour due to the temporary change in his normal schedule. 

I decided to marinate the pork loin chops for something a bit different.  The marinate was a simple olive oil and apple cider vinegar base with honey mustard and a couple of pinches of Herbs de Provence.  I let the chops marinate for 2 hours.  They could have been left longer to develop a bit more flavour but as it was the end result was quite good.

Marinades are a great way to spark up meats while tenderizing them.  Essentially a marinade is composed of three elements - acid, oil, flavour.  For this reason any home made vinaigrette will serve as a marinade.  Think out side of the box though.  The acid component can be vinegar, citric juice, buttermilk, fruit or tomato based.  Oil can be any vegetable oil of your choice but usually extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is used as it imparts flavour and is a healthier oil.  There are so many ways of getting flavour into a marinade ranging from various fruits and vegetables, herbs, seasonings, mustards and sweeteners so get creative!

The pork chops were grilled on medium direct heat on the outdoor grill.  I served them with steamed red potatoes, tomatoes and cucumber slices on a bed of green leaf lettuce and Old Fashioned Chili Sauce as a condiment.  It was a delicious, easy, low cost meal!

In hind sight,  chili sauce itself could have served as a marinade as well although it does make a better condiment.  It would be interesting to try using the chili sauce as a marinade as it does have a wonderful flavour that goes so nicely with pork.   I think I would blend it and add a bit of EVOO to use as a marinade. 

Kitchen Quick Tips - Using Leftover Pineapple Juice

Mix leftover pineapple juice with a little oil, soy sauce and garlic. Mix well then marinate chicken for several hours. Bake the chicken in the marinade until the juices run clear.

He Said (2) - Asian Marinated Round Steak

If you recall my husband and I are having a bit of a contest with each of us using a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens® New Grilling Book to create a meal. In total there will be 12 recipes, 6 of his choosing and 6 of mine. The contest ends August 31 so the first week of September I will post a poll where you can vote for the meal you liked best. The rules are all the ingredients must be used but the amounts can be altered.

On the Grill

Round steak, a cut from the hind (rump) end of the cow, is a lean but tougher cut of beef due to lack of marbling. As a result it tends to easily dry so is best braised or cooked in liquid. If grilling a round steak should be marinated to tenderize the meat. Pictured is a round steak with the eye round, bottom round, and top round still connected together. It was marinated in an Asian Marinade for 6 hours. As you can see this is a large steak! It fed 3 adults and 1 pre-teen for dinner with enough left-overs for another dinner for 2 or 4 lunches for 2.

The Asian Marinade is suitable for beef, pork, poultry or fish. It added a lovely flavour to the round steak while tenderizing the meat. This is a marinade that we will definitely make again! The recipe was doubled for this size of steak. The beef broth was home canned beef stock and apple juice was used.

Asian Marinade
source: Meredith Corporation, Better Homes and Garden New Grilling Book, 2005. Pp. 40

½ c beef broth
⅓ c bottled hoisin sauce
¼ c reduced-sodium soy sauce
¼ c sliced green onions (2)
3 tbsp dry sherry, apple juice, orange juice, or pineapple juice
1 tbsp sugar
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp grated fresh ginger

Place ingredients in a small bowl. Whisk together. Pour marinade over meat, poultry or fish in a self-sealing plastic bag set in a shallow bowl. Alternately place the meat in a non-reactive dish with a lid and pour the marinade over. Turn the meat to cover with marinade. Marinate in the refrigerator at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours, turning occasionally. Drain and discard marinade. Grill to desired doneness.

Asian Marinated Round Steak

After a day of boating and swimming a grilled steak dinner was a pleasant way to end the day. The weather had actually warmed enough with high humidity that for the first time this summer we put on the air conditioning. The steak was served with corn on the cob and steamed potatoes. The sides were cooked on the grill side burner to keep the heat out of the house. It was a simple summer meal!

Corn is now in season so we will be eating a fair amount of corn on the cob. It is one of summer's simple pleasures! We enjoy corn on the cob either boiled on the side burner of the grill or cooked directly on the grill.

Method for Cooking Corn

boiled: Bring cold, salted water to a boil. Husk corn and remove silk. Place cobs of corn in the water. Cover and return to boil. Boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat and drain. Leave cover on until ready to serve. Serve with butter and salt.

grilled: Carefully pull back husk just enough to remove silk. Pull husk back into place. Alternately cut across top of cob to remove exposed silk. Soak cobs in cold water 10 minutes. Place on medium hot grill. Allow to cook turning occasionally until outer husks are dried with well defined grill marks. Remove the corn from the grill. Remove husks and any silk. Serve with butter and salt.

Grilled Greek Pork Chops

I've mentioned several times on this blog that all of our kids (including spouses) are quite accomplished when it comes to cooking so it is always a pleasure for me to have the opportunity to enjoy their cooking. As you know I spent a couple of weeks at the home of oldest grandbaby awaiting the birth of youngest grandbaby. That meant a new spin on food so I came home with a few great ideas!

Grilled Greek Pork Chops

The kids made a lovely grilled Greek pork chop dinner. It really was quite good! The pork chops were marinated then grilled and served with spinach, basmati rice and Greek pitas with tazaki sauce. The marinade added a nice flavour without being over powering.

Greek pitas is pocketless flat bread. To prepare for this dish, brush each pita with melted butter and sprinkle with a little garlic salt. Bake until warmed through. Cut each pita into 8 wedges. Serve with tazaki sauce.

Marinade

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp dried oregano flakes
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ tsp fresh ground pepper

Wisk ingredients together. Place 4 pork chops in container with lid. Pour the marinade over the pork chops. Cover and put in refrigerator for a couple of hours turning occasionally. Remove the pork chops from the marinade and grill.

Grilled Chicken with Herbs De Provence

We are moving in nine days and I know I won't be cooking the day of the move! Unfortunately I have not cleared as much food as I would have liked to but that's ok. Over the weekend a cooler full of food from the side-by-side freezer made its way to one of our kids at my husband's insistence. Despite my supervision he managed to get a couple of packets of roasted garlic into the cooler as well! She's quite pleased at this generosity as I don't part with roasted garlic very often especially that roasted on the grill.

We love grilled chicken so I'm always experimenting with different ways to prepare it. Tonight I marinated it in Herbs de Provence from the Jet Set Spice Co. Chef Steven Popp, the resident Chef instructor for the Jet Set Spice Co. is a master of combining flavours with wine with a focus on balance and harmony. While their products can be ordered online, I usually splurge and buy mine at the various ribfests we attend. I paired his herb blend with a VQA Ontario 2006 Riesling Dry from Pelee Island Winery for the marinade. This wine is a perfect complement to appetizers, seafood, cheeses and light meals.

Grilled Chicken with Herbs de Provence

Herbs de Provence is a blend of herbs originating in Provence, southern France. It is usually a dry blend but could be made fresh. The blend I used consisted of marjoram, savoury, thyme, basil, lavender, rosemary, sage, fennel seed, garlic and onion. Herbs de Provence can be used in marinades for grilled chicken as I used it or as a rub for roast lamb or pork. This blend can be sprinkled on pizza, in potato soup or on fresh summer vegetables for a boost of flavour.

There are several recipes online for grilled chicken using an Herb de Provence marinade. I used the marinade recipe on the package of the herb blend from Jet Set Spice Co because I had everything on hand and didn't want a complicated recipe since packing has now moved to the kitchen. After making the marinade and the chicken was in the refridgerator, I realized I had the amounts of Riesling and olive oil reversed but the end result was wonderful so that's the way I will make it again. The recipe is as I made it. I served the chicken with sweet potatoes and nibblet corn, both from the freezer.

Grilled Chicken with Herbs de Provence

3 tbsp Herbs De Provence blend
100 ml Riesling
50 ml olive oil
2 lb fresh chicken breasts, skin and bone attached*

Place the chicken in a zipper style bag or vacuum canister. Mix the marinade then pour over the chicken. Seal the bag or vacuum seal the canister. If using the bag method, let marinate for 6 hours. Timing can be reduced if using a vacuum canister to about two hours. Remove from marinade and grill until juices are clear.

*Boneless, skinless chicken breasts can be substituted but be careful to not over grill

Grilled Country Ribs and Berries

We cook as much as possible on the indoor and outdoor grills year round but when the weather turns warm the preference is for the outdoor grill. Continuing with my goal of using two things from the freezer and two things from the canning rack for each evening meal, I looked in the freezer. Grilled country ribs sounded like a plan. This meal would use up one package of country ribs from the freezer, cheese, potatoes and the ingredients to make desert. The chives, strawberries and herbs were from the garden so even though I fell a little short in my goal, I still used up a few things.

Grilled Country Ribs

Who can resist grilled country ribs? They are moist and tender with a wonderful flavour just perfect for grilling. There are so many ways to prepare the ribs for grilling too. I normally buy these in a family package of eight huge ribs then vacuum seal them into packages of two for four meals. As meat goes they are fairly frugal being low cost per meal and easy to prepare. These are such huge, meaty ribs I plan on one per person even though I know we seldom finish one each. Left-overs are great sliced on crustry rolls with Asiago cheese the following day or sliced for pork fried rice. These country ribs were marinated then grilled. Sides were baked potatoes with sour cream and chives and baked asparagus.

Grilled Country Rib Marinade

1/4 c extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tsp organic brown sugar
1 tsp fresh rosemary (or 1/2 tsp dried rosemary)
1 tsp fresh thyme* (or 1/2 tsp dried thyme)
1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

Place 2 large country ribs in a FoodSaver canister. Whisk the marinade ingredients together and pour over the ribs. Vacuum seal and place in refrigerator for 2 to 3 hours. [If you do not have a vacuum sealer, place the ribs into a zipper style freezer bag. Pour the marinade over then seal and refrigerate for about 6 hours.]

To grill, remove the country ribs from the marinade. Place on a hot grill turning only when the meat releases easily. Use tongs to turn so you don't puncture the meat.

*Lemon thyme gives a nice flavour to this marinade.

Berries & Cream

What happens when something goes wrong with a dish you are preparing? Sometimes that happens despite the best of intentions. It all started out just fine with a nice white cake (recipe in archives) poured into lightly oiled silicone muffin tins. In my mind, I wanted cupcakes topped with fresh whipped cream, blackberries and strawberries then garnished with a bit of chocolate syrup and a mint leaf. My first problem came when the cupcakes would not release from the silicone muffin tins. I let them cool completely without any luck. I even popped them into the fridge to see if that would help. Finally I resided myself to the fact the nice cupcakes I had envisioned would be pieces instead. Then I made what was supposed to be the chocolate syrup. That was problem number two. I'm still trying to figure out what I did wrong with the syrup as I've made it before without a problem yet it was more of a lump! So in order to save the desert, I topped the cupcake pieces with fresh whipped cream and the berries. I figured with that combination I couldn't go wrong. It wasn't the same as I had envisioned but it worked well and tasted pretty good too.