Simple Supper Monday, Vol 66: Rosemary Grilled Pork Chops

Several years ago, when we were first married, my husband read a book by Jonathan Safran Foer called, Eating Animals. You can imagine the content.  After finishing the book, my husband declared that he wanted to eat a vegetarian diet.  Enter newly married wife who is mainly in charge of the cooking.  I had no idea how to cut meat out of our weekly menu, nor did I want to.  But I complied, and the phase lasted about a week.  Thank goodness. Despite returning to meat, Hubby still felt strongly that he no longer wanted to eat pork products. I was fine with this initially because I did not cook with pork that often anyway.


Fast forward about 3 years.  My mom gifts Hubby a grilling cookbook for Christmas.  Now, I love my mom dearly, but she is a bargain shopper.  The woman cannot turn down a good deal, a red tag, a bottom line price.  So, when I see the red clearance sticker on the book, I have to refrain from rolling my eyes.  Because I know that she was probably at TJ Maxx or Marshalls a few days before Christmas doing last minute shopping, saw the discounted price, saw it was a cookbook suitable for a guy because it was about grilling, and needed to get my husband a gift.  I was all ready to give her to faked smiled and thank-you, when I saw Hubby's very different reaction.


He was quite enthusiastic about the cookbook.  Like genuinely enthusiastic. What was I missing?


"Are you kidding? It's the Barbeque Bible by Steve Raichlen!" he informed me when I asked him about it.


"Steve who?"


"Raichlan.  RAICHLAN. He's, like a Grilling GOD." Hubby could not hide his disdain for my ignorance.  (I will also note here that my husband is a bit of a bibliophile, and worked for several years at our local independent book store, where he gained a vast knowledge of valuable books and worthwhile authors).


To make a long story short, Hubby was very excited to try the recipes from said bible, including a few of the pork meals (which I was happy to oblige).  So, we recently tried a grilled pork chop recipe from the book, and it was FANTASTIC.  So fantastic we made it twice in 2 weeks.


So, of course, I want to share it with you!

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Simple Supper Monday

Rosemary- Grilled Pork Chops

(adapted from Steve Raichlan's recipe, Rosemary-Grilled Pork Loin, in The Barbeque Bible)

• 4-6 Center Cut Pork Chops
• 3-4 tsp minced garlic (or 6 cloves of garlic peeled)
• 1 TBS dried rosemary (or 1 bunch of fresh rosemary, stemmed)
• 1 TBS course salt (kosher)
• 1 TBS ground black pepper
• 2 TBS extra virgin olive oil

1, Combine garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper in a mortar and pound to a smooth paste with a pestle (if using minced garlic, grind until a smooth paste). Work in the oil until it is combined.  If you don't have a mortar and pestle, combine ingredients in a blender or food processor until smooth.

2.  Spread paste over both sides of each pork chop. Place the pork chops in a pan, covered in plastic wrap, in the refrigerator to marinate for 2-4 hours.

3. Heat grill and cook each pork chop roughly 5 minutes on each side (2-4 minutes for thin chops, 4-6 minutes for thick).

4. Enjoy!

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We served these pork chops with potatoes (roasted on the grill in foil packets - recipe to come!  So check back!) and grilled asparagus.  It was so so tasty, and I felt good that it was a reasonably well-balanced and healthy meal.  The chops come out super flavorful (but be sure to use COARSE salt. I used regular salt the first time, and the chops came out terribly salty!)

We are looking forward to more pork meals, and are hoping to try a grilled pork loin some time this summer.  I'll be sure to share how it goes!

If you try this recipe, let me know how it turns out for you!  And, as always, I'd love for you to share your recipes, so drop me an email - moderndaydonnareed@gmail.com