Coffee–Molasses Marinated Pork Chops...

‘Pork chops and apple sauce…ain’t that swell’
Peter Brady: The Brady Bunch, Television series 1969–1974

Pork chops and applesauce certainly are ‘swell’ – they are a classic combination after all. The two go together like peanut butter and jam, bacon and eggs or strawberries and cream.

Last night I decided to put the applesauce to one side and try a different approach to pork chops. Over the past few months my eye had been drawn to several recipes for pork chops with a coffee-molasses marinade. There was a half empty jar of molasses kicking around so I thought, why not?

I was missing some of the ingredients so a few substitutions needed to be made. I don’t think this affected the final outcome of the dish – it was delicious! Peter Brady would approve. In fact he may have even called it… ‘swell’.

Here is the recipe I used from the Taste of Home website. We served these with boiled new potatoes and butter braised Savoy cabbage.

Coffee–Molasses Marinated Pork Chops (serves 4)

Ingredients

• 1 cup strong brewed coffee

• 1/4 cup molasses

• 6 fresh thyme sprigs (I used lemon thyme from our garden)

• 2 tablespoons cider vinegar (I used tarragon vinegar)

• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (I used mustard powder)

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning (I used lemon myrtle and lots of freshly ground black pepper)

• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

• 4 bone-in pork loin chops (1 inch thick)

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the first nine ingredients

Pour 1/2 cup marinade into a large re-sealable plastic bag; add the pork chops. Seal bag and turn to coat; refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Cover and refrigerate remaining coffee mixture until ready to cook

NOTE: I used a large Pyrex oven dish and covered the pork chops in ALL the marinade as in Alton Brown’s recipe for coffee-molasses marinated pork chops from the Food Network website. When it came time to make the glaze I once again used ALL the marinade. I poured it through a fine sieve first and reduced it to about ¼ of a cup so it was much thicker in consistency than the Taste of Home recipe

For glaze, place remaining coffee mixture in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil; cook until liquid is reduced to about 1/2 cup

Drain and discard marinade covering the pork chops

Using long-handled tongs, moisten a paper towel with cooking oil and lightly coat the grill rack.

Grill chops, covered, over medium heat or broil 4 in. from the heat for 4-5 minutes on each side or until a meat thermometer reads 160°

NOTE: We used our Creuset grill pan to cook the chops and gave them a slightly longer cooking time of 6-7 mins

Spoon glaze over chops

Enjoy

Spicy Cashew and Cucumber Salad: The Perfect Picni...

The weather here in the UK has been absolutely amazing. It’s been hot and sunny now for weeks and I dare say we are getting used to seeing the sun. It makes a nice change from the usual grey drizzle of an English summer.

So to celebrate the end of a tough work week and get out in nature, my husband and I are going into the Kent countryside tomorrow to find the perfect place for a picnic. The big question is what type of food to bring. Sandwiches are always good. A selection of nibbles maybe? Quiche, potato salad and some hummus and vegetable sticks would also go down a treat.

Thinking about it we decided we wanted to try something completely different. Looking at the many recipes I have bookmarked to try, I found the perfect picnic recipe from last week’s Saturday Morning Kitchen. The guest chef was Bill Granger who made a wonderful looking meal of Spicy Chicken Thighs With Cucumber and Cashew Salad.

The recipe is actually in two parts. The first step is to create a marinade for some boneless chicken thighs. Once prepared, the chicken thighs are left to marinate in the fridge for about 20 minutes. Only 1/2 of the marinade is used for this. The rest of the marinade is used as a base to create a salad dressing for a cucumber and cashew nut salad with vermicelli rice noodles. This salad is served cold while the chicken thighs are served fresh off the grill.

We actually don’t want to make the dish with the chicken thighs for tomorrow’s picnic. We only want to make the salad! It seems like it will be light and refreshing with just the right amount of heat. I may play around with the recipe tonight so it’s ready to go when we leave first thing in the morning. I may add some shredded carrot to it as well, just to give it a bit more crunch and colour.

We are approaching tomorrow with an open mind so we aren’t really sure where we will end up. The one thing we do know is that we will have some delicious food to eat when we get to wherever we are going!

I hope you are all making the most of this glorious picnic weather. Please drop me a line and tell me about your perfect picnic foods.