Accounting for Taste

Want to spice things up? Add some heat to tonight’s pork chop dinner. This Spicy Jerk Pork Chops recipe is based on the fiery Jamaican seasoning known as jerk, made of Scotch bonnet chiles, ground spices, garlic, and herbs. Right up my alley…

We like things on the spicy side so I included two habaneros. Of course you can adjust the heat by reducing the amount, and/or type, of chiles you add. And while I only cooked two chops, I still made the same amount of seasoning, saving any leftovers for a future use.

Our broiler, usually a bone of contention with me, worked fine for this dinner, go figure! Although I would have preferred the pork a bit less done and so you might want to broil for only 6 minutes each side and check the temp, adding an extra minute if needed.

NOTES: I lined our broiler pan with tinfoil for easy clean-up. Spread the jerk mixture only on the top side and place on preheated grill pan; then when you flip the chops, spread more seasoning on the second side. This helps insure a lot of the mixture doesn’t fall off.

This dinner was so easy and so quick, and made even more so with the frozen side dish of all natural, Alexia Cauliflower Risotto seasoned with parmesan cheese and sea salt. You simply dump the contents of the bag into a microwave-safe bowl, cover and zap on high for 4 minutes, stir, and zap an additional 1 1/2 minutes. Can’t get more easy than that! Low in calories, fat and cholesterol, it was surprisingly good.

The frozen cauliflower risotto is poured directly into a microwave safe bowl.

Microwave on high for 4 minutes, stir, and heat for another 1 1/2 minutes, done!

Spicy Jerk Pork Chops

Servings: 4
Time: 25 mins
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil; more for the pan
4 bone-in center-cut pork chops (3/4 inch thick, about 2-1/2 lb. total)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 medium scallions (white and green parts), coarsely chopped
2 small Scotch bonnet or habanero chiles, seeded and coarsely chopped (wear gloves)
2 small limes, 1 juiced and 1 cut into 8 wedges
2 large cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 Tbs. coarsely chopped fresh ginger
1 Tbs. coarsely chopped fresh thyme
3/4 tsp. ground allspice
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions

Position an oven rack about 4 inches from the broiler and heat the broiler to high. Lightly oil a broiler pan or a rack set over a large rimmed baking sheet.
Season the pork all over with 1 tsp. salt and 3/4 tsp. pepper.
In a food processor, purée the oil, scallions, chiles, lime juice, garlic, ginger, thyme, allspice, cinnamon, and 1 tsp. salt.
Coat the chops on all sides with the mixture and set on the broiler pan or rack. Broil until the pork begins to brown, about 7 minutes.
Flip and cook until browned, the meat is firm to the touch, and an instant-read thermometer inserted close to (but not touching) the bone registers 145°F, about 7 minutes more.
Serve with the lime wedges.