We don’t usually eat a lot of pork at my place. Its not as healthy and its more fattening than the normal. Another thing is that I’ve never actually made any pork chops but my boyfriend has mastered them pretty well. So there I was on Friday night and trying to figure out what to make for Saturday and my grocery list. Pork chops are on special so coincidentally there is also the “#1 Readers Fave” being Marla’s Maple Pork in my Looneyspoons cookbook. So voila, the menu for Saturday night was set. Its nice to eat in on Saturday night and watch a movie (you know its horror because I haven’t gotten around to posting up the Horror Marathon). For once, there was no parties, no ordering in, no take out, just cooking, eating and relaxing.
Here are Marla’s Maple Chops:
Makes 6 servings
Ingredients:
1/2 lbs (680g) pork tenderloin
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 tbsp each reduced sodium soy sauce and ketchup
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp grated orange zest
1 1/2 tsp each curry powder and ground coriander
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Directions:
1. Trim pork of all visible fat. Place pork in a large, heavy duty bag, resealable plastic bag. Whisk together all remaining ingredients in a medium bowl. Pour marinade over pork and seal bag. Turn bag several times to coat pork evenly. Marinate in refrigerator for 1 hour.
2. Transfer pork and marinade to a small roasting pan or baking dish. Roast, uncovered, at 350F for 40 minutes. Pork should be slightly pink in middle.
3. Let pork stand for 5 minutes before slicing. Slice thinly. Drizzle extra sauce over pork and serve immediately.
I changed it a bit. I bought loin chops instead of a gigantic slab of meat so no slicing afterwards required. I had all the ingredients pretty much. I used normal mustard though because Dijon mustard is on the spicy side and my stomach is too sensitive for it. Also, I marinaded it in the fridge for 1/2 hour. I never read that before I do it so I don’t budget enough time. One more thing, 45 minutes in the oven for me because we don’t get pink meat, only well done. Still, it turned out smelling delicious and tasting so good.
So with the pork chops, I made some sweet potato fries. They were agreed upon last weekend that I’d do something with sweet potatoes.
This was incredibly easy to make. First, wash the sweet potatoes (you’ll need about 3 medium ones). Pat them dry before cutting them into wedges about 1/2 inch thick. Don’t count on my cutting. its not too sophisticated, but do follow the general idea of it. Don’t cut into wedges that are too big. After that, toss about 1 tbsp of olive oil and some seasoning (I use vegetable seasoning) and if your seasoning doesn’t include salt and pepper already then put that in also. Make sure it evenly coats all the wedges.
Arrange them into a single layer on a baking sheet or tray. I didn’t oil it up because I used aluminum foil under it. Bake at 450F for 20-25 minutes, turning them over halfway through cooking time.
These turned out pretty good also. Saturday night meal was a great turnout. It was really delicious.
Do you like pork chops? How about sweet potatoes? Are you going to give these a shot? Have you ever done another recipe similar to it?
Tranquil Dreams 