Grilled Pork Chops with Blackberry Balsamic Sauce

Happy Tuesday pals!  Do me a favor, go get your grocery list and a pen/pencil/writing utensil of sort.  Go ahead, I'll wait.....(insert Jeopardy music here)....still waiting....ok got them?  Great!  Now put these ingredients on it ASAP.  This fabulously light and summer friendly pork chop recipe is so delish it must be made right away!

This is adapted from my FAVORITE of the moment cookbook Endless Summer by Katie Lee.  All of the recipes we've tried in it so far have been really yummy, utilize fresh summer ingredients and aren't too fussy or advanced. Not to brag but this cookbook author and co-host of The Kitchen is a Miami grad, making her superior to other Food Network folks (sorry GZ!).  Because she's one of the many awesome Miami alumni doing big things she came back to campus this spring for the Women in Leadership Symposium and signed this fabulous little cookbook for me :)  Like I said, not bragging, just saying.  Anyways, back to the pork chops.      

Grilled Pork Chops with Blackberry Balsamic Sauce

 Ingredients:
- 4 bone in pork chops, I used center cut about a half inch thick each (about 1 2/3 lbs. total)
- 1 qt. blackberries
- 1 c. balsamic vinegar
- 1 Tbsp. chili powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
- 1 tsp.  ground cumin
- 1 tsp. dry mustard

Instructions:
- Reduce balsamic by half in a nonreactive saucepan over high heat.  Should take 7ish minutes once you get it up to a full boil.
- Carefully add the blackberries, occasionally give them a gentle stir until they are just softened, 2ish minutes.
- Use a slotted spoon to transfer the berries to a separate bowl. 
- Continue to boil the balsamic until it has reduced to about 1/3 cup, about 3ish minutes.
- Carefully pour any juice that has accumulated in the bottom of the berry bowl back in to the pan, let simmer for another 30 seconds or so.
- Season with salt and pepper then pour over the berries in the bowl, you may want a spatula to scrape out every last bit of sauce.  Set sauce aside.

Yumm-o!

- Heat your grill (or grill pan) to medium (keep in mind pork is typically a low and slow kind of meat).
- In a small bowl mix together chili powder, coriander, cumin and mustard. 
- Season pork chops with salt, pepper and the spice mixture.  Give it a little rub so the spices really stick to it!
- Place chops on the grill and cover.  Cook for 2 and a half minutes (if your chops are thicker you'll need more time on each side).
-Flip the chops, cover grill and cook for another 2 and a half minutes. 
- Flip, cover and cook for a minute and a half.
- Flip, cover and cook for another minute and a half.
- Remove chops from the grill, tent with foil and let stand for 4 to 5 minutes.

Grilling credit: my husband

- Serve chops with blackberry balsamic sauce drizzled over top.
- Enjoy!

These pork chops are super flavorful with the spice rub on them but then the blackberry balsamic sauce really makes them sing.  So even if you didn't write the ingredients down and plan to make them tomorrow I hope you put them on your "to make" list soon!

Next up, it's time for some summer cocktails, stay tuned!

Cheers!
Steph

Grilled Naan Pizza

Happy Friday!  Chris and I are so ready for a little R&R this weekend after a semi hectic week getting back to work after vacation and helping my brother move out of his apartment.  He'll be staying with us while he is in between places so some of my upcoming recipes may be with the help of a sous chef!

While on vacation we decided to spilt dinner duties with Chris' grandparents.  Since we had more time on our hands it made it nice for trying some new recipes!  This recipe for Grilled Naan Pizza was a hit! Best of all, it was easy and quick!

Grilled Naan Pizza
(we made six pizzas for four people, three were caprese, three were pear, mixed greens and brie, we had about one pizza leftover for lunch)

Ingredients:
- 6 loaves of naan (we just bought it from Kroger, if you have a good homemade recipe go for it!)
- olive oil
- toppings: we used grape tomatoes, bocconcini mozzarella (the smaller cherry size), fresh basil, pears, brie, spring mix and balsamic vinegar but you can pick any combinations you want!



Instructions:
- Prep veggies or fruits and cheeses that you are using for toppings.  For the caprese pizzas we sliced the grape tomatoes in half, same thing with the mozzarella then we let them sit in a mix of 1/3 c. olive oil, 2 to 3 Tbsp. white wine vinegar, 1 tsp. oregano, 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. pepper, 1 tsp. dried basil.
- Heat grill to medium heat.
- Brush both sides of naan lightly with olive oil.
- When grill is ready, place naan on grill for 1 minute or until there are some grill marks.
- Flip it over and place toppings on top, let cook for 5 minutes until cheese is just melted or until the underside is cooked to your preference.
- Drizzle with balsamic, slice and serve.

Mixed green, pear and brie with balsamic drizzle

Caprese with balsamic drizzle

Things to keep in mind:
- Have all your toppings ready to go before grilling, the naan cooks up pretty fast so you have to work quickly.
- Brie (and softer cheeses) melt pretty quickly so try adding it halfway through the cooking time so it won't run everywhere.
- Fresh basil wilts and dries quickly so adding halfway in makes it a little more visually appealing.
- The cheese doesn't have to be fully melted before removing the pizza from the grill, if its cooked on the underside take it off and let the cheese melt with the residual heat.

Obviously you can get really creative with it and switch up your toppings based on what's in season.  We went with caprese with balsamic drizzle and the pear, mixed greens and brie with balsamic drizzle to keep things light and have some contrasting flavors.  These were really easy and very yummy.  Some of them got a little more crispy than I care for but that could be avoided next time.  Chris manned the grill while I prepped so it was a team effort!  His grandparents were big fans of both types of pizzas and so were we!

This weekend our summer slows down without any travel plans!  But as I've blogged about before "free weekends" tend to be fleeting concepts if I have anything to do with it!  Stay tuned for Puffins and Maple Pecan Twists!

Cheers!
Steph