Killer “Columbia Gold” Pork Chops

Yesterday was our routine shopping day for the Matla home and as such I did my usual stock up for the week ahead. The meat counter was particularly good yesterday and I managed to find a treasure trove of good eats for the next few days: beef, chicken, salmon and pork.

So with the cornucopia of food available I decided that last night I’d make some boneless pork chops using none other than Meatheads’ method and his kick-ass recipe for Columbia Gold BBQ Sauce. Along with this I tried a new way of baking potatoes (which Heather loved!) and added grilled spicy green beans with toasted almonds.  Not too shabby for a Thursday night!

For the pork and all things grilling, here’s the link that I would highly recommend, particularly around the science of it all! Thanks Brother Meathead!

The sauce is really what makes the pork incredibly yummy and delicious.  I followed Meatheads’ method of brining the pork first for an hour and then grilling the boneless chops over indirect heat set at 225 F for about 55 minutes.

The potatoes were really simple to prepare and tasted so ridiculously good, we’ll do these again and again!  Heather ranked the “tatties” a 10/10 for your information!

Simply wash and scrub your basic russet potato and then slice four slits into the potato almost cutting through but not quite.  What you want to do is make a wee pocket for a few slices of onion.  As you’ve probably guessed, insert 1 or 2 semi-circle slices of white, yellow or spanish onion then add a small bit of unsalted butter on top of each slit, add a pinch of Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper and a good helping of olive oil.  Wrap each potato in aluminium foil nice and tight and bake them in the oven at 400F for one hour. The result will not disappoint!

Next, prepare your green beans by combining the following ingredients:

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 2 teaspoons red chili flakes
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, whole or crushed in a mortar and pestle
• 1 pound green beans, stem ends picked

Once you’ve combined the above list, coast the beans by getting your hands in the bowl and tossing them about here and there until they’re evenly coated. I put them on the grill while the pork chops were resting for their obligatory 10 minute time out. The grill was reset to direct heat at 400 degrees.  I used a shallow pan lined with aluminium foil and olive oil.  I kept the beans on for no more than ten minutes, tossing them occasionally to ensure nothing burned! At the ten minute mark, add the next three components listed below and plate them up!

• 1 lemon for zesting
• Kosher salt to taste
• handful of toasted almonds

I’ve never been a big green bean fan and that’s probably because they’ve always been boiled to within an inch of their lives! Soggy beans pretty much suck!  Roasted on the other hand, with a dash of chili, garlic, lemon zest and almonds?  A completely different taste that had the buds on the tongue going crazy!

All in all, another win for the Big Green Asian Egg!

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Overall Heather Rating: 8.5/10 – 10/10 for the potatoes!

 

Roasted Leg of Pork with Apple Gravy

Happy weekend to all of you!  Last night was a simple, stay at home kind of evening for all of us. Heather and I had no particular plans for dinner so we walked up to the market and looked at the on sale stuff and we found a leg of pork for $16 bucks.  Score! So what did we make?  Simple roast leg of pork with apple gravy. The recipe for this meal couldn’t be easier and it’s one of those types that if you’re a novice or beginner griller, your guests will love this one as it’s almost entirely fool-proof. It will make you look like a master chef!

Ingredients for the pork & apple gravy

• 1 – 1.5 kg of boneless leg of pork
• your favorite rub
• olive oil
• Kosher salt
• 2 shallots, sliced
• 2 ambrosia apples (from British Columbia!!!)
• 100 ml pure apple juice
• 100 ml chicken stock

Prepare your grill and set it up for indirect heat at 350 degrees F.  For those with an egg, that means a plate setter, for those without, no flame – just heat!  I threw in a few hickory chips for good measure as well as to give the pork a nice smokey flavour.

Bring your pork up to room temperature.  Give it a bit of a rinse, pat dry and then score the top layer of skin and fat with a super sharp knife.  This will produce the most incredible tasting crackling when done.  Now coat the leg evenly with olive oil.  Sprinkle some Kosher salt all over and then apply a nice coating of your favorite rub.  I had a bit left over so it worked out perfectly in terms of using it all up. Once you’ve coated everything and your grill us nice and hot, transfer the leg onto an oiled v-rack and place it on the grill.

     

Set your timer for 1.5 hours (as a minimum) and insert your trusty thermometer if you have one.  The ideal temperature for a pork roast like this is 170 degrees F, internal temp.  If you don’t have a thermometer, this roast was completely done at 1 hour and 45 minutes. Upon finishing the roast, wrap it in aluminium foil and a tea towel and let it rest for at least 10 minutes before you slice into it. I’ll warn you now, if you love crackling as much as we do….you’ll absolutely flip when you taste it once you’ve cut up the leg. Probably the best crackling I’ve ever had…no lie!

     

The apple gravy preparation was equally as easy.  Peel, core and dice your apples into small chunks and place it into a pan on the stove top.  Add to this the shallots, 100% apple juice and chicken stock and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the apples are nice and mushy.  Set aside the mixture and let it cool a bit before you squish it all through a strainer.  That’s it, now you have a wonderful gravy to go with your pork leg.

  

To add to all of this, Heather made an awesome strawberry/walnut salad with jam and balsamic dressing and mini potatoes in fresh oregano from the garden.  One final addition, a chilled bottle of Sauv Blanc to accompany a great, simple and incredibly tasty meal.

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Overall Heather Rating: 9/10