Grilled Garlic Basil Rubbed Pork Chops

Hello again everyone,

We're back for our second installment.  Grilled Garlic Basil Rubbed Pork Chops served with Spicy Dill Oven Roasted Potatoes, and Steamed Asparagus. 

Like the first installment we first had to think of a theme.  And this time we chose Medieval.  At first we were going to do Jumbo turkey legs, but didn't have the time to properly brine them, so we went back to one of favorite dishes that would suit this theme perfectly.  Grilled bone in pork chops filled in, in a pinch, but don't think we forgot about the Turkey Legs.  Something tells me they will be on a the menu soon when we need a Bristol Renaissance Faire fix.  

Okay, with the theme and menu selected now comes the most important decision of the meal.  What wine do we go with?  So sticking with our Medieval theme, we went with a 2013 Cotes du Rhone from Trader Joe's.  The bottle make you want to say, "God Save the Queen", even though it is a French wine, we figured we had a little latitude to play with.  It doesn't hurt that this wine is one of our favorites, so that was an easy choice.  Not to mention the ceramic glasses from Hearthstone glasses that we served them in.

We then had to decide what to watch.  We wanted something with plenty of banquets, and good music to set the mood.  Nikki then narrowed it down to The Tudors or The White queen, and The Tudors Season 2 was the victor.  But the spoils went to us, as you can see by the last few photos of this entry.

Ingredients:

Grilled Pork Chops
4 bone-in pork loin chops, 3/4-inch thick
4 garlic cloves, peeled
Handful of fresh basil leaves
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup of white wine
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Add the garlic, basil, lemon juice, olive oil,salt, and pepper to your food processor and process to make a thin wet rub. Spread both sides of pork chops with basil mixture. Let stand 15 to 30 minutes.

Place on grill, flip to get nice grill marks on both sides. Cook until internal temperature reaches 170 degrees.

Roasted Potatoes
5-6 medium red or yellow potatoes
Olive Oil
Dill
Salt 
Pepper
Garlic
Red Pepper Flakes

Wash and cube potatoes. Dry the potatoes and toss with olive oil, dill, salt, pepper, garlic and red pepper flakes. Season to your taste.

Place on a foil lined baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees until fork tender. Turn on broiler for a few minutes to create a nice crust on the potatoes.

Steamed Asparagus
Package of Frozen Asparagus
Olive Oil
Salt 
Pepper
Garlic
Red Pepper Flakes
Grated Cheese - Parmesan, Romano, Asiago

Steam the asparagus in a microwave safe container for 3 minutes. Add seasoning and microwave for an additional 3 minutes. Add cheese and serve.

So as you can see by the last photo, dinner was amazing, and there was no room for dessert. 

We hope you enjoyed this edition, and stay tuned for our next food and wine adventure to see what Our Favorite Restaurant serves up next.

Until next time, Reservations Recommended, Walk-ins Always Welcome!

 Joe and Nikki