Saturday, May 30, 2015

Juicy Grilled Pork Chops. It's the Brine.

Wow what a super busy Saturday. Did my cooking and baking for the week today so tomorrow I can rest, well maybe ... Dinner was easy as pie. Chris grilled. But I did make a Quiona and Snap Pea Salad. And what is it with Quinoa? $9 in the organic section. Seriously! I found a bag, the same size in the rice aisle for $3. Score one for me!

Now about those pork chops. I found a recipe for Juicy Grilled Pork Chops. Juicy and grilled do not seem to go together when I talk about grilled pork chops. And why is that? I have not put the chops in a brine before.Yeah a brine. Water, salt and sugar. That's it. Only thing I will change the next time is the recipe says to lightly salt and heavily pepper the chops before putting them on the grill. I will omit the salt all together.

My version of Juicy Grilled Pork Chops

Ingredients-
2 quart ice cold water
1/3 cup kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
1/4 cup sugar
4 (1 1/2-inch thick) center cut pork rib chops, about 8 ounces each
Freshly ground black pepper

Method-
To make the brine: In a large bowl whisk together water, salt, and sugar until solids are dissolved. Place pork chops in brine and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Remove pork chops from brine, pat dry with paper towels, and season lightly with salt and heavily with pepper.

The recipe went on about cooking the chops on the grill but if you are lucky like I am all you have to do is hand them off to your husband, the Grill Master. Thank you Chris.


And that Quinoa Salad is from Food and Wine. Yum!

Ingredients-
1/2 pound sugar snap peas
1 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup salted roasted pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup minced chives

Method-
In a small saucepan of boiling salted water, simmer the peas until bright green and crisp-tender, about 1 minute. Drain and spread out on a large plate to cool, then pat dry. Cut the peas on the diagonal into 1-inch pieces.

In a small saucepan, combine the quinoa with 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over low heat until all of the water has evaporated and the quinoa is tender, about 15 minutes. Uncover and fluff the quinoa, then transfer to a large bowl and let cool to room temperature.

In a bowl, combine the oil and vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Add the peas to the quinoa with the pumpkin seeds, chives and dressing; stir. Season with salt and pepper and serve at room temperature or lightly chilled.

Make Ahead - The salad can be refrigerated for up to 6 hours.

1 comment:

Closet Fashionista said...

Those look so tasty!!
(I haven't see nany of the old Star Trek movies, I need to change that soon, haha...so many movies on my need to watch list!)