Grilled Pork Chops with Seasonal Fruit Salad

A couple weeks ago we entered the Maple Leaf Prime Pork Contest. After looking around at our local super markets stores, we were only able to find Maple Leaf Prime Pork at Save-On. There were 3 cuts of pork to choose from at the grocery store, the tenderloin, loin chops, and ribs. We decided to use the pork loin chops because it is the quickest to cook on a bbq.

We are not great cooks, but we wanted to do something simple, fresh, and tasty. We based our recipe on what we think would taste nice together, and our experimentation at the kitchen turned out pretty well. The pork was very tender and for the sides we made a super creamy mashed potato with Gruyere cheese, and a fresh seasonal fruit salad.

This wasn’t a super hard entrée to make, we had fun making this recipe, so hopefully it will encourage you to try it out in your own kitchen. Don’t forget to vote for our recipe on the Maple Leaf Prime Facebook page! You can also get 50% off of a Maple Leaf Prime Pork product for voting. You can vote once a day.

Serving: 3

Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Pork & Marinade
3 Maple leaf prime pork steaks
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 bay leaves
4 sprigs of thyme
fresh ground pepper
lemon zest
1/2 cup dry red wine

Roast Garlic, Gruyere Mashed Potatoes
3 potatoes
1 handful of chives, finely chopped
1 cup whipping cream
2 tbsp butter
100 g grated Gruyere Cheese
1 head of garlic
1/2 bay leaf
1 sprig of thyme
1 tbsp olive oil
fresh ground black pepper, salt

Fruit Salad
10 cherries, halved and pitted
1 nectarine, sliced
1 handful of blackberries
2 mint leaves
1 tsp of cardamom
1/2 lemon juice
lemon zest
1/2 orange juice
orange zest

Sides
green and yellow beans
fresh ground pepper, salt

In a large bowl, prepare the pork marinade by mixing 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 bay leaves, 4 sprigs of thyme, 1/2 cup dry red win, lemon zest, and black pepper. Place the pork steaks in the marinade, and marinade it for a least 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

To roast the garlic, slice the head of garlic in half horizontally. Add olive oil, bay leaf, and thyme, wrap it in aluminum foil and roast for 25 minutes in the 400 degree F oven.

For the mashed potatoes, peel and dice the potatoes into 2 inch cubes, place them in boiling water for 20 minutes or until potatoes are soft when poked with a fork. Drain the cooked potatoes, and mix in the roasted garlic, butter, Gruyere cheese, whipping cream, black pepper, and chives, and mash together. Add in salt to taste.

While waiting for the potatoes to cook, prepare the fruit salad by mixing the cherries, blackberries, and nectarine in a large bowl. Squeeze the juice out of half a lemon and half an orange juice. Also add in lemon zest, orange zest, cardamon, and mint. Mix everything together well, and place it in the fridge until the pork is cooked.

We barbequed the Pork Chops on a medium-high heat for about 12 minutes (6 minutes a side) or until it reaches about 75 deg C using the handy Meat Thermometer Fork that Matchstick sent us. Let the meat rest for about 10 minutes. Plate and serve!

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****½ (4.5/5)

This weekend I was invited to a dinner party and had a friend to cook for us. I had a really nice light meal with salad, quiche and home made butternut squash soup. I was pretty impressed with my friend’s cooking, the quiche and the soup were yummy! So I asked for her permission to share her recipe with us, and luckily she said yes. So here is the Spinach and Ham Quiche recipe.

Difficulty: Easy

Cook Time: 45 minutes including prep.

1 frozen pie crust
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic
1 cup spinach
150 g ham, diced
1/2 cup grated monterey jack cheese
1/2 cup grated gouda cheese
3 eggs
1/3 heavy cream
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp of thyme
sale & black pepper
olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Take the frozen pie crust, poke the dough with fork and bake it in the oven for 8 minutes. Meanwhile, in a medium heated pan, sauté the onion, garlic, and spinach until the onion is soft and spinach is cooked.

Take out the pie crust, and pour sautéed spinach into to the pie crust. Also add into the pie crust, diced ham, monterey jack, and gouda cheese. Mix all ingredients together.

Mix 3 eggs, and 1/3 cup of heavy cream, add cayenne pepper, thyme, and a pinch of salt and black pepper. Add the liquid mixture  into the pie crust, baked for 25mins in 375 degrees F until the egg mixture is set and the top is nice and golden.

To check if the quiche is done, take a toothpick, poke the center of the pie, if there is no liquid on the toothpick, the pie is ready to go.

Tip: This was a great dish to eat in the spring or in the summer. If you are looking for a healthier version, you can substitute the heavy cream with milk.

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****~ (4/5)

Level: Easy

This is a recipe for a quick and somewhat fancy cooking breakfast on a lazy Sunday. This recipe was made up spontaneously while I was shopping at the grocery store, and turned out really well and it was really tasty. It was really easy to make and it’s a good recipe to impress whoever you are cooking for. It is also perfect breakfast to make if you are running late, because you can just take it with you with no mess.

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Serving: 4 Burritos

4 large flour tortillas
1/2 tomato
1/2 red onion
1/2 green pepper
1/2 red pepper
6 large eggs
100g Mexican salami
100g turkey kolbassa
8 slices of chedder cheese
few sprigs of cilantro
extra virgin olive oil
salt, black pepper

Method:

Dice tomato, red onion, green pepper, red pepper, Mexican salami and turkey kolbassa. Break eggs in a large bowl, add in a few cilantro leaves (as much as you like), add salt, freshly ground pepper and mix.

In a medium heat pan, add extra virgin olive oil, add eggs, stir constantly to make scrambled eggs. Keep the scrambled eggs a little under cooked, as they will get cooked again in the grill. After the eggs are cooked, remove from pan. Add a bit more extra virgin olive oil and sautée the red onions until they are a little brown and soft. After the onions are cooked, remove them from the pan. Turn to low heat, add diced Mexican salami and turkey kolbassa, sautée until the meat is warm.

Pre heat panini press to 425 degrees

Layer cheese, eggs, Mexican salami, turkey kolbassa, onion, red & green pepper, tomato on the tortilla, wrap it, and send it to the panini press for 5 minutes or until the wrap is crispy.

Let it cool for 1 minutes before serving.

Tip: If you don’t have a panini grill, use a non stick pan. Put the burrito on the pan on medium low heat, place a plate on top of a burrito, and put something heavy on the plate to press the burrito down. Turn the burrito around after 2 minutes or until the wrap is golden and crispy.

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****~ (4/5)
Made this for Dinner Thursdays. Read full post here.

This was Vivian’s creation and is not as ’saucy’ as the traditional Ma Po Tofu dishes that you will find in a restaurant. Like her beau, Vivian is a natural in the kitchen and kind of magic’d the thing together. From watching Kyle do the cooking, it’s a good idea to taste the dish midway through after the pork has cooked before adding in the tofu. It will taste a little over-salty before adding in the tofu, but once that is in the mix, everything evens out nicely. Personally, I’m a fan-boy for spicy foods and this had the right amount of heat to it.

Homemade Ma Po Tofu
Recipe by Vivian S.

Ingredients:
12 oz soft tofu (medium soft will do as well)
olive oil/canola oil
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 onion
2 green onions
8 oz ground pork
salt
Lee Kum Kee Black Bean Garlic sauce
Huy Fong Foods Chili Garlic Sauce
soy sauce
2 dried chili peppers (more if you like it to be more spicy)
steamed white rice

Cooking Time: 15 mins

Directions:

Chop dried chili peppers, green onions and 1/2 an onion. Cut tofu into medium sized cubes.

Heat a pan with olive oil/canola oil until on high until oil is hot. Add the chopped garlic and 1/4 of the chopped onions and saute for until garlic is golden brown. Add ground pork with some soy sauce (approx 2-3 tablespoons) and break it up into chunks. Sprinkle some salt on as the meat cooks. Add chopped chili peppers, a spoonful of black bean sauce and chili garlic sauce and stir when the pork is nearly cooked. Add the tofu cubes and chopped green onions along with another spoonful of black bean sauce and cook until tofu is ready.

Serve with steamed rice.

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