Seared Pork Loin Chops with a sauté of spinach, tomato, garlic and mushrooms.
Translating a kitchen recipe for the grill.
Several weeks back I enjoyed a perfectly prepared pork chop served on a bed of saute’d spinach, tomato, mushrooms and garlic. Ahem. I made it in my kitchen. I’d intended to prepare some chops on the grill – but it was raining so hard I just couldn’t make myself head out to cook so I worked out some ideas with a sauté pan on the stove-top.
Pan-seared boneless pork loin chop with sauté of mushrooms, spinach, garlic and tomatoes with sauce of reduced balsamic vinegar.
This is the result:
It was tasty and I’m really glad I made it. Today I wanted to translate this idea to the grill and show you what I did in hopes that it will inspire you to comment and give me suggestions as well as take a shot at translating some of your favorite recipes to preparation on the grill.
Here is a pictorial that explains what steps I took to prepare this lean cut of meat for a very tasty meal.
CB’s EZ Seared Boneless Pork Loin Chops with a pan saute of spinach, mushrooms, garlic and chopped tomatoes.
Boneless pork loin chops are lean cuts - especially today with "modern" pork. For best grilling results try to get chops at least 1 inch thick. Remove the chops from packaging and dry off the excess moisture.
After drying off the excess moisture that accumulates on meat in the package I season it with a "just a pinch" of good quality salt that has larger flakes. The salt draws out natural sugars & proteins, reacts and helps to prepare the surface for searing. Just prior to searing I'll sometimes add a twist of fresh ground black pepper and spritz both surfaces with canola oil.
I practice the "Where it hits - it sits" method for producing the attractive and flavorful sear marks. The clean grates are pre-heated to about 550F - 600F degrees and it takes just a minute or so to get these marks.
I turn the chops to sear the second side. When grilling cuts of meat with more fat content "in the tissue" like a rib-eye beef steak, I will flip over once more and rotate 90 degrees to get cross hatch. With lean cuts like this pork loin chop - that much exposure to direct high heat would possibly over cook and dry it out.
That yellow hockey-puck looking thing is one more of many attempts to grill polenta. Guess what? It is a big ol' pain in the neck and I've tried many different methods: Pre-heated polenta, frozen polenta, buttered polenta, etc. etc. Bupkis.
Here's the pork loin chop plated with the 'grilled' polenta and a saute of tomatoes, mushrooms, spinach, spring peas and garlic. The photo is not doctored...that's the moisture on the chop. And believe-you-me - it was moist and tender inside!
For this cook I used the Big Easy Smoker, Roaster & Grill. You can get the same results on your charcoal, gas or infrared cooker. I used the basic “Sear & Hold” method – adapting it somewhat because the SRG does not have a warming rack or area for indirect heat. I removed the seared chops to a warm cast iron skillet and placed a lid over the top. No extra heat was needed as the chops finished to 145F degrees internal temperature.
For a printable version of this recipe: CLICK HERE
Have a question about how to get the optimum searing temperature on your grill? Leave a comment below in the Comment form, post a question on Just Ask CB or on the Users Forums.
Thanks and…
Happy Grilling!
Don’t know what a URI is, don’tknow what SRG is, Don’t know exactly what The hold part of sear and hold means,and was the reduced basalmic done on the gril in a pan or on the indoor stove? I once did ribs with just salt and peper and olive oil and basalmic vinegar and the meat was great but the bones were so soft you couldn’t tell meat from bone untill you had a mouth full. What did I do wrong?
Patrick – thanks for your comment. I am not sure what you are referring to when you write “URI” so can’t answer that. As for the SRG — Just click on the link for the Big Easy Smoker Roaster Grill and you will get more information.
On your questions about the ribs….I just don’t have enough information to give you an answer. Was the vinegar part of a marinade or preparation process? If so then that could contribute to the soft bones. And what type of ribs? I recommend you click on the link in the navigation bar at the top of the page and check out the Users Forums where you can post questions and get some tips and responses from other cooks who may be able to help you in a conversation and more details!
CB,
that looks great!!
was the skillet left on the grill on the indirect side?
Jaxon – for the saute I use the side burner. But you could also prepare over the highest setting on the grates of an infrared grill….