Grilled Pork Chops with Grilled Peaches and Summer Beans
I saw the idea for this combination in a Bon Appetit magazine recently, and modified it for the way we like to cook in the summer, i.e., keep it easy and cook as much as we can on the grill. Especially when it is hot and no one wants to be in the kitchen. You can do everything for the delicious summer meal., except the salad, on the grill.
Chops and Peaches Coming off the Grill and Resting
We had never grilled peaches before, but now we will! They were an excellent side for the pork chops.
Thick or Thin?
We bought our pork chops from Morgan's Market in Penn Yan--which is a great place for meats, if you don't know about it. The butcher asked Tom if he wanted "thick or thin", and he said "thick". We ended up with these monsters, and they were great.
Grilled Pork Chops with Grilled Peaches and Summer Beans
(loosely adapted from Bon Appetit, June, 2012)
For the pork chop rub:
1 pork chop per person
Garlic powder
Coarse grain mustard
Marjoram, fresh or dried
salt and pepper
For the peaches:
1 peach per person, washed and cut in half, stone removed, skin on
olive oil
For the beans:
a mix of yellow and green beans, washed and trimmed
olive oil
salt and pepper
fresh thyme, several sprigs
An hour or so before dinner, pat the pork chops dry with a paper towel, then generously apply garlic powder, a layer of mustard, salt and pepper and pack marjoram leaves on top. Do this to both sides. Let sit until the meat comes to room temperature, and it will be ready to grill.
Coat the halved peaches with olive oil.
On a large piece of aluminum foil, place the beans in the center, add olive oil, salt and pepper, and thyme leaves, then toss to coat. Place a thyme sprig on top, and warp tightly into a packet to go on the grill.
Grill the pork chops for 24 minutes, 12 per side without moving them. Add the beans with 10 minutes to go. Add the peaches with 6-7 minutes to go.
Serve them together.
Add a nice summer salad of fresh greens, tomatoes and Parmesan with a balsamic - olive oil vinaigrette.
And toast the dog days of summer.
B
