Grilled Pork Loin Chop

It's time to start this blog back up again. I'm pretty sure that I can't commit to the daily posts like I used to be able to manage, but blogging seems like a better use of my time than checking out People.com multiple times a day. I am going to try hard to post photos of the dishes that I make, although I don't have one for today's post.

Sunday night, I followed a recipe from the Weber's Real Grilling cookbook. Ben got the book several years ago, and we've not used it much. We grilled the Pork Loin Chop with the Mephis Dry Rub and Sassy Barbecue Sauce. Oh...My...Goodness....delicious! While the pork was moist and tasted great, it was the barbecue sauce that really made the whole dish. The sauce, appropriately named "sassy", was served warm. I don't think I would have ever thought to do that on my own, but I will be heating up my barbecue sauces frequenly now. Here's the recipe:

PORK LOIN CHOP with MEMPHIS DRY RUB and SASSY BARBECUE SAUCE

Ingredients:
Sauce:

• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 2 tbs molasses
• 1 tbs white wine vinegar
• 1 tbs Dijon Mustard
• 1 tbs light brown
• 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
• 1/4 tsp Tabasco sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Rub:

• 1 1/2 Tsp whole black pepper corns
• 1 1/2 tsp mustard seed
• 1 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 1/2 tsp light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp granulated garlic
• 1 tsp granulated onion
• 1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper
• 6 bone in pork rib chops, 10 to 12 ounces each and about 1 inch thick
• Canola Oil

Directions:

1. To make the sauce: In a small heavy bottom saucepan, whisk the sauce ingredients with 1/2 cup water. Bring to boil over med heat, then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. To make the rub: In a spice grinder, pulse the peppercorns and mustard seed until coarsely ground. Place in a small bowl and add the remaining rub ingredients, mixing well.
3. Allow the chops to stand at room temp for 20 to 30 min. before grilling. Lightly brush or spray the chops on both sides with oil and season with the rub, pressing the spices into the meat. Grill over Direct Med Heat until barely pink in the center of the meat, 8 to 10 minutes, turning once. Remove from the grill and let rest for 3 to 5 min. Serve with warm sauce on the side.

While I would love to report that my kids ate the pork chops too, they did not. Kyle doesn't eat meat very often. It seems crazy that Ben and I could have a child who doesn't like meat, but that is our reality. Katie had meatballs and peas. Kyle ate bread and peas.

Monday, 2/7/2011

I was very indecisive at the grocery store this morning. I basically bought stuff for breakfast, lunch, and only veggies for dinners this week.  I figured I had enough protein in the freezer, that I could improvise.  And, improvise is exactly what I did for dinner tonight.  When Ben called to say he was on his way home, I still didn't have a clue what I was fixing for dinner.  I asked him what kind of food he was in the mood for.  When he said "spicy," I had to come up with something quick.

We had some zesty pizza sauce, hot Italian sausage, and shredded mozzarella in the fridge, but no pizza dough.  I went online to the Bisquick website hoping to find a quick pizza dough recipe.  I was surprised to only find recipes that required yeast and far more time than I had available.  What I did find was a recipe for Reuben Fold-Overs, which looked like calzones or empanadas.  I took a chance and it worked pretty well.

For the dough, I took two cups of Bisquick and added 1/2 cup of boiling water.  I mixed until the dough formed, split the dough into four balls, pressed them out into 5 inch rounds, and placed them on a cookie sheet.  I topped each round with the sauce, cheese and sausage and baked for about 15 minutes.  They tasted pretty good, but were really just flat biscuits with pizza toppings:)  The pizza sauce really saved it.  Yes, it is that good;)  All in all, it was a successful improvisation. 

Monday, 1/3/2011

We had chicken and peas for dinner tonight.  I took a pound of chicken tenderloins and marinated them for three hours in Grill Mates Tomato Garlic Basil marinade.  I broiled them on high for 8 minutes.  Yum!  The tenderloins really take on the flavor of marinades exceptionally well.  We ate up the rest of the sugar snap peas I prepared yesterday with the following tasty dipping sauce.  I only made a half recipe of the sauce, because a little goes a long way.  Katie really liked the peas and only ate a few bites of chicken tonight.

SPICY LEMON DIPPING SAUCE- from Alton Brown's cookbook "I'm Just Here for the Food, volume 2.0"

Ingredients:
2/3 cup mayonnaise
3/4 cup sour cream
Zest from one lemon, chopped fine
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the mayo, sour cream, lemon zest, lemon juice, red pepper flakes and tarragon.  Taste and add salt and pepper as desired.

It is very important to only use dry peas.  The dip won't stick to wet peas.  The dip also goes well with carrots and other fresh veggies. 

Thursday, 12/16/2010

Happy 2nd Birthday Katie!!!

My company's annual meeting took place today.  Since both Ben and I had to work, my Aunt Margie came over to be with Katie for the day.  Thanks Margie!  We wanted to give Katie one birthday present before we left for work.  We woke her up shortly after 7am, got her dressed for the day, and brought her downstairs to see her new drawing easel.  Margie tells me that they spent the majority of the day drawing on the easel.  What a hit!

For dinner, I put together a pizza using a Pillsbury pizza dough, homemade sauce, mozzerella cheese, shredded rotisserie chicken, and thinly sliced Italian chicken sausage.  We were thrilled when Katie decided she would eat the pizza too.  She wasn't interested in the sausage or shredded chicken, but ate the crust, sauce, and cheese willingly. 

Saturday, 11/6/2010

Our church supports Family Promise, an organization that helps homeless and low-income families achieve sustainable independence.  Ben and I have prepared several meals over the past couple of years for the families staying in our church.  The program in our area had to stop operations a couple months ago due to a lack of funding.  The hope is that it can be started again after enough funds have been raised to sustain it successfully. 

Tonight we competed in a Comfort Food Throwdown to benefit Family Promise.  Individuals in the Family Promise network paid $15-20 to attend the meal.  And then we, along with 9 other churches or individuals, prepared our favorite comfort foods to serve to the masses.  We volunteered to bring spaghetti, using Ben's family's secret spaghetti sauce recipe.  We were supposed to be able to feed 100 people, so we made three batches.  It took us all day to prepare the sauce.

We took dry noodles and a large stock pot with us to the hosting church and cooked the noodles there.  It was a little chaotic and a large burner was not immediately available for us to use when we arrived.  The noodles were finally done cooking just as we were supposed to start serving.  We chose to dish up the plates of spaghetti in the kitchen and bring them out to the serving table.  It worked okay while people were getting their first servings.  But then, the pasta just sat on the table, waiting for people to want it.  And, it got cold.  I decided to make up a new batch of noodles and then serve on demand at the table.  It worked better and everything stayed warmer.  Oh, and I garnished each dish with a parmesan crisp that I made earlier today.

We did not win, but we were beat by an young gal with an excellent chicken soup from Guam.  Money was raised for Family Promise and the people were fed.  It was a good night.  Katie spent half of the evening on my back in the Ergo carrier and then played with two cups of water instead of eating for the second half.  

I'm not going to go into all the details, but there were a lot of things that could have been improved with how it was organized and promoted.  But, since no one asked for my opinions or my help in planning, and I didn't volunteer to do so, I need to keep my mouth shut.  I might volunteer my services next time:)

Sunday, 10/31/2010

Happy Halloween!  Katie wore her pink kitty costume to church this morning.  All of the kids, big and small, were encouraged to wear their costumes.  During the children's moment, they marched around the sanctuary while our music director played "Thriller" on the piano.  Katie was adorable walking around the church with her daddy:)

Our parents left this afternoon after lunch.  Katie cried when they left.  What a sensitive little girl:)  After her nap, we made up some penne pasta and finished off the roasted red pepper and bacon sauce left over from last night.  Instead of pasta, Katie ate a little beef taco meat.  We were all full and happy when the meal was over. 

We decided to end our Halloween festivities with church today.  Katie still doesn't get what the holiday is all about; so, we didn't push it.  We kept our porch light off, put her to bed on time, and enjoyed some quality time in front of the TV with some chocolate candy.  It was a great day and a wonderful weekend. 

Wednesday, 4/14/2010

One of our favorite restaurants in Belltown (the neighborhood in Seattle we used to live in) is Black Bottle. They have great small plates of food that are easy to share and their wine prices are pretty reasonable. Tonight I tried to replicate, at least in part, their local sausage plate. They serve three different kinds of sausages on the same plate, braised in a delicious sauce.

I chose to grill up 4 different sausages (cajun, pesto, mediterranean, and one I can't remember)from the Safeway meat counter and then served them with 5 different dipping sauces (bbq, ketchup, cajun ketchup, chipotle ranch dressing, and spicy brown mustard). Ben's favorite was the cajun sausage with the cajun ketchup. I liked the mystery one best with the bbq sauce. Katie had a little of the mediterranean and the pesto sausages. Her comment was "yum, yum".

Monday, 4/12/2010

Left over pork with red pepper bacon sauce tonight. Instead of a salad, we grilled up some asparagus. Katie loves the asparagus tips- begs for them in fact.

Katie's appetite has been a little strange the past couple of days. She hasn't eaten much for breakfast, but has snacked all morning long. Thankfully, today after lots of snacking, she took a four hour nap (yes...4 hours!!!) and then was a cheerful delight all afternoon and evening. And, all of the dishes are done from last night with the exception of the cookie sheets. Thanks for your help Ben!

It's been a good day for this momma:)

Sunday, 4/11/2010

Just realized, again, that today is Sunday. And, although I am sad that the weekend is ending, I am pleased to say that it concluded with a delicious meal. It even included a salad;) Here's what I made: Pan Fried Pork Tenderloin, Roasted Red Pepper Bacon Sauce, Caesar Salad, and Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies.


PAN FRIED PORK TENDERLOIN

1 pork tenderloin- cut and flattened
flour
kosher salt
black pepper
cayenne pepper
vegetable oil

Cut tenderloin into 1/2 in slices. Place a piece of plastic wrap on the counter, place a slice on it, and fold plastic over the pork. Using a meat mallet, flatten the slice of pork until it is approximately 1/4" thick.

Dredge each piece in a mixture of flour, salt, and peppers.

Heat oil in a medium pan (don't use non-stick). Put pieces of pork into the oil and leave alone until slight browning occurs. Turn and leave alone until slight browning occurs and pork is cooked through. You may need to do this step in batches. Move cooked pieces onto a paper towel covered plate until ready to serve and keep warm.

The pork was tender and moist, but lacked the crispy outside I hoped for. Next time I might try leaving more of the flour on or dunk the pieces in an egg bath before dredging in the flour.

ROASTED RED PEPPER & BACON SAUCE

1 1/2 cups jarred roasted red peppers, drained (10-ounce jar)
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons red wine
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 slices bacon, chopped
1/2 medium onion, chopped fine
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup heavy cream
salt & pepper

1. Puree red peppers, tomatoes, oregano, cayenne, wine, and oil in food processor or blender until smooth.

2. Cook bacon in large skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 7 minutes (took me longer). Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to plate lined with paper towels. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of fat from pan and return to medium heat. Add onion and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add red pepper mixture to skillet and bring to simmer. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until flavors meld, 10-15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cream and half the bacon. Season with salt and pepper.

I found this sauce recipe in a magazine- not sure which one. Credit goes to Patricia Lohrey of Port Ludlow, WA. It was intended to be a pasta sauce. We tried it with spaghetti a couple months ago and loved it! Seemed like it would go well with the pork tenderloin I had in the fridge. I ladled some of the sauce onto the plate, placed a couple pieces of pork on top, a little more sauce and then sprinkled with the remaining crisp bacon.

The caesar salad was one from the store...everything included. I just add more parmesan cheese and black pepper.

And, the Butterscotch Oatmeal cookie recipe came straight off the butterscotch chip bag. I started making them earlier this year when I realized it gave an option to use either vanilla extract or orange zest as flavoring. The orange zest gives them amazing flavor. Much more interesting than vanilla. They are now a household favorite!