Pork Chop Dinner: The Full Story

The laziest and loveliest of weekends this is—no agenda, the most freeing of plans.

The wind never let up but my will to barbecue did so this dinner–destined for the grill turned out really good cooked in my broiler (the most basic and worst performing broilers you can imagine).

On a dog walk I picked up the pork chops and mined the fridge and cupboard for the rest of the meal: a big pot of jasmine rice, stir fried broccoli florets and sf’d bok choy. Riffed on the marinade after just picturing the flavors I wanted (and looking at the pantry options too), about 1/4 cup hoisin sauce (big flavor lifter), zest and juice of one orange (it was too desiccated for good out of hand eating but perfect to use here), scant teaspoon of sesame oil (always use less than you think), glug of rice wine vinegar (just enough to balance the sweetness with a tart edge), and minced garlic (hemmed and hawed here–was gonna leave out cause I didn’t want that burned garlic flavor–but, broiled rather than grilled it was a good choice). I put the large cast iron pan inside the lame-ass broiler for about 8 minutes before adding the chops which cooked for 7 minutes.

As for the veg, there was baby bok choy and a sorta sad looking half a head of broccoli–but cleaned and trimmed it spruced up well (all soaked together in cold water). I just minced a mass of ginger (always have this in the fridge!), scallions (ditto) and garlic. I put my old $5.00 wok directly on the flame without the ring stand, again because I’m in such desperate need on a new stove so by all means necessary I have to capture high heat. Leave it there for a while to get blazing hot. In goes some safflower oil, immediately the aromatics, stirring constantly for about 20 seconds then, I did the greens each separately and hit them with some soy sauce at the end.

Of course, a large pot of rice (I cook mine 1-1 1/2 ratio: 2 cups rice, 3 cups water, salt-bring to boil, cover and simmer 20 minutes). And for this dinner, just water as the liquid–nothing fancy. Woulda loved a cold Riesling with this meal but had a Spanish Albarino which had a floral touch and worked great with the dinner.

Apparently a dog (not sure which one) helped itself to the last chop after I dosed off. The kitchen was clean and any leftovers left (carefully wrapped) for incoming teenagers so haven’t pictured how that scenario played out; bones on the floor—skinned of all edible leavings my only clues.