Weather: 51 degrees, trees are finally showing leaves again
What I’m listening to: Food Glorious Food, Oliver! – 2009 London Cast
This is a simple and fresh marinade with amazing results. It was my first time ever using lemongrass in my own kitchen and although I had previously found it fibrous and intimidating as an ingredient, I’m completely won over.
The night I made these, Andy the Intern joined us for dinner. In the middle of the meal he stopped and proclaimed that these were the very first pork chops he’d ever actually enjoyed. He voted that this recipe make it to the blog pronto so that you all could enjoy it too.
p.s. I cut up two leftover chops the following night and made some rather splendid tacos with them.
Lemongrass Grilled Pork Chops
Adapted from Viet World Kitchen
- 6-8 pork chops, bone-in, about 1 inch thick
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 large shallot, roughly chopped
- 3 stalks lemongrass, trimmed and roughly chopped
- 1t black pepper
- 5T sugar
- 2T soy sauce
- 2T fish sauce
- 4T olive oil
- lime wedges for serving
About 6 hours before you're going to grill your chops, place pork chops in a large plastic zipper bag. Add the remaining ingredients to a food processor and process until well-chopped and combined. Pour the mixture over chops and coat well. Seal bag and refrigerate for about 5 hours.
After 5 hours, remove pork chops from refrigerator and allow them to come to room temperature before grilling.
Heat grill to medium-high. Grill chops about 4-6 minutes per side or until nice grill marks are achieved and pork is cooked to your liking (the USDA now says (as of 2011) that it is safe to eat pork slightly pink, at a temp of 145 degrees), being careful not to dry out. Pull the chops off the grill and allow them to rest 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve with lime wedges.
