Recipe of the Week: Marinated Pork Chops and Roasted Grapes

This week's recipe was chosen based on what ingredients I had on hand. I am bad about letting fruit go to waste especially grapes. This recipe uses them as a garnish for pork chops.


Marinated Pork Chops and Roasted Grapes

1 cup red wine
salt
5 black peppercorns
4 pork chops
1 clove
8 ounces seedless grapes, separated into small bunches
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon dried oregano
12 new potatoes
2 garlic cloves, 1 minced and 1 whole
Sea salt
7 tablespoons olive oil, divided
Fresh black pepper

In a nonreactive container, combine wine, peppercorn, clove, bay leaf, oregano, minced garlic, 2 tablespoons olive oil and salt to taste. Mix well and add pork chops. Marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

In a nonstick pan, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic clove and grapes and cook until grapes are seared. Transfer to the oven and roast until the grapes start to release their juices, about 8-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Cook potatoes in water until nearly tender, then slice and sear them in 1 tablespoon olive oil in a hot pan for a couple of minutes. Sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper. Set aside.

Heat a saute pan over medium heat; add 2 tablespoons olive oil. Add the pork chops and cook for about 4 minutes on each side, or until they have a nice golden color and are pale pink in the center. Remove from the pan and let rest for about 1 minute.

Serve the pork chops with the grapes and grape juices on top and the potatoes.

Recipe found in Home Cooking the Costco Way cookbook.



From my experience: I made this recipe minus the potatoes. The pork chop marinade needs to be assembled the day before or at least earlier so the meat can marinate for hours. I used a pomegranate red wine that sounded yummy when I saw it at the store, but tasted absolutely terrible. To get rid of it, I used it in the marinade which was a mistake. The pork chops were tainted by the taste of the nasty pomegranate wine, so choose a wine for marinade that you like. The grapes tasted great roasted and warm. They were sweeter than served cold. When cooked, they didn't release many juices however the pork chops were juicy enough without it. I would probably make this recipe again if I have some grapes that needed to be eaten fast. I am interested in trying the marinade again using a different red wine and maybe using it on chicken.