Grilled Pork Chops with Dijon Mashed Potatoes

Grilling season is just about here! I love pork chops, especially fresh, succulent, juicy, marbled, bone-in chops.

Using kale and hot sauce makes this a sort of southern style meal, updated with Butternut Squash crescents and Dijon Mashed Potatoes. Mmmm, Mmmm, Mmmm.

My original recipe and directions are below.



I'm pairing this recipe with one of the greatest songs ever written about obsessive love -- "Night and Day," by Cole Porter. It's been recorded by U2, Fred Astaire, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Rod Stewart, Sergio Mendes and Brazil '66, the Temptations....and Roberto Mighty :-)

Night and Day is a tricky song to sing, because it has an unusual harmonic structure. Perhaps it's because, according to legend, Cole Porter said that it was inspired by the Islamic Call to Prayer that he heard on a trip to Morocco.

Whatever the derivation, I became obsessed with the song and worked out a fairly intricate hip-hop/spanish guitar/spoken word/vocal arrangement for my album, KiTCHEN MuSIC.

Grilled Pork Chops with Dijon Mashed Potatoes
by Roberto Mighty

My new jazzy music album, "KiTCHEN MuSIC," is now available on iTunes, Amazon.com and CD Baby. KiTCHEN MuSIC takes ten familiar songs from the 40's and 50's -- the kinds of songs my Mom used to sing while cooking -- and updates them with funky arrangements and sensuous grooves. Perfect music to dance and cook to with a glass of wine in your hand.

PREP TIME: 10 minutes. Cook time: 17 minutes.

TOOLS

Small Saute Pan for the sauce
Medium size pot (saucepan) with a lid for the mashed potatoes
Grill for the porkchops
Large Saute Pan with a lid for the kale & squash
Potato Masher
Spatula and grill fork for flipping pork chops
Separate fork and plate for handling raw pork chops (!)

INGREDIENTS

SAUCE (for mashed potatoes and grilled pork chops)
3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 medium spanish red onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3-4 pats of butter or equivalent healthy margarine
Kosher salt

GRILLED PORK CHOPS
2 medium size bone - in Porkchops. Do not trim away the fat
Kosher Salt to taste
Whole Black Peppercorns, ground fresh, to taste
Canola oil spray (for grill)

DIJON MASHED POTATOES
2 large Potatoes
Kosher Salt to taste
1/4 cup milk or soymilk to replace water, to taste
2-4 tablespoons butter or healthy (non-hydrogenated oil) margarine
1-2 tablespoons white wine Dijon Mustard

KALE & BUTTERNUT SQUASH
Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
3-4 fistfuls of Kale leaves
4-5 finger-width crescents of Butternut Squash

ON THE SIDE
2 tablespoons unsweetened natural Apple Sauce
Hot sauce, to taste: Try Mexican style hot sauce...but a little at a time.

DIRECTIONS

SAUCE
1. Have your onions and garlic chopped and ready before turning on the small sautee pan
2. Turn on the pan, medium high. When it's hot, pour in the olive oil
3. When the olive oil is running like water and about to smoke, add in the onions and garlic
4. Turn the heat down to medium and stir the onions and garlic constantly to keep them from burning
5. When the onions are translucent, add in the butter or healthy margarine
6. Turn the heat down to low, cover and let simmer for a two or three minutes, adding water if necessary to keep from burning.

OPTION: Add a pinch of sugar. Try it.
7. Turn off the heat and set the sauce aside to be used on the mashed potatoes.

GRILLED PORK CHOPS
1. Spray the canola oil on the grill
2. Turn the heat on the grill to high
3. Season the meat: Sprinkle kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper onto both sides of the pork chops
4. Once grill is VERY hot, place the chops carefully on the grill
5. Once the meat is browned on one side, turn it over to grill the other side
6. When the pork is grilled and cooked through to at least medium, remove from grill and let stand.
7. Get ready to plate it up.

DIJON MASHED POTATOES
1. Peel and cut the potatoes into quarters
2. Put potato pieces into a medium-sized pot
3. Pour enough water in the pot to cover potatoes
4. Add a couple pinches of kosher salt
5. Put the pot on the stove and turn the heat on high
6. When the water boils, turn the heat down to low and cover
7. Cook until potatoes are very soft, easily broken apart with a fork
8. Using a collander, pour out most of the water, leaving just enough to cover the bottom of the pot
9. Add the milk or soymilk, a couple of tablespoons at a time, mashing with a potato masher (do NOT use a food processor. Anyone can do that) as you go to achieve your desired consistency
10. Add the butter or healthy margarine
11. Add kosher salt to taste
12. Add the Dijon mustard, one tablespoon at a time
13. Taste frequently to adjust the amounts of milk/soymilk, butter/margarine, salt and Dijon mustard, mashing as you go.
15. For a finer mash, use a slotted spoon or even a large fork towards the end of the mashing process, until you achieve your desired consistency.
16. Get ready to plate it up.

KALE & SQUASH
1. Chop the kale leaves into pieces no larger than your hand.
2. Put the olive oil into the saute pan and turn the heat on to medium high
3. When the pan is hot, put in the kale and squash
4. Add a pinch or two of kosher salt.
5. Turn the kale and squash over several times to coat all pieces with the hot oil
6. Turn the heat down to medium
7. When the kale turns bright green and the squash turns bright orange, add the apple cider vinegar
8. Stir
9. Add one or two tablespoons of water
10. Cover pan and turn heat down to simmer
11. When the squash is the desired firmness, remove pan from heat.
12. Get ready to plate it up.

OPTION: Sautee red onions and garlic along with the kale and butternut squash. Dang!

PLATING
Put the pork chop (just one is enough for one serving. Save the other one for leftovers,) on the plate, placing the mashed potatoes to one side. Layer the squash crescents on top of the mashed potatoes (see photo,) the kale to one side and the apple sauce in a pocket between the pork and the kale. Sprinkle a few dots of Mexican hot sauce on top (wow,) and spoon the red onion/garlic/EVO/butter sauce on top of the mashed potatoes and squash mixture. In the immortal words of my friend Jackie: Makes you wanna Smack your Momma.

ENJOY! - Roberto
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