Sweet and Spicy Pineapple Pork

Sweet and Spicy Pineapple Pork

(courtesy of Rachel Ray)

with Baked Sweet Potatoes 

and Cream Cheese-Stuffed Jalapenos

This recipe for porkchops was delicious. We have a similar one we use where each porkchop is in its own foil pack w/ teriyaki, pineapple, onion, pepper, etc and placed on the grill. This was a little different simply because the pan sauce was made separately from the chops! Still soooo yummy... plus that meant I could make the sauce while hubby manned the grill... double-duty in the kitchen means we eat a little bit sooner!

Here is the original Rachel Ray recipe:

As usual, I made a few modifications based on what I already had in my kitchen. Those changes are in blue italics.

You will need:

-3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

-Four 1 1/2-inch-thick boneless center-cut pork chops

-1 large red onion, chopped (I used a large shallot I had leftover)  

-2 garlic cloves, chopped

-1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and shopped

-1 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed, finely chopped

-One 8-ounce can of pineapple chunks, in juice

-1/2 cup chicken stock or broth

-1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley (I didn't have this, so I used a little chopped green onion. YUM!)

Rachel's recipe tells you to preheat the oven to 375. Heat a large skillet with 2 tablespoons on the EVOO, and sear the salt and peppered chops for a couple minutes on each side, then finish them in the oven for about 8-10 minutes. Let them rest while you make the sauce.

I put salt and pepper on the chops along with a little Montreal seasoning, then gave them to the hubby to put directly on the grill. I only used my skillet for the sauce.

For the sauce, put the skillet on medium-high heat and add 1 Tablespoon of olive oil. Add the onions(shallots, in my case), garlic, bell peppers, jalapenos, salt, and pepper - cook for 3-4 minutes until the veggies start to wilt. Add the chunked pineapple (with its juice) and the chicken stock. Cook the sauce for another 3-4 minutes. Add the parsley (green onions, for me) and stir to combine, then pour the sauce over the chops.

Rachel Ray's recipe suggested serving this with white rice or sweet rolls, but we did neither. 

We wrapped some sweet potatoes in foil (that D first scrubbed clean, covered in olive oil, then added kosher salt to the skin) and threw them on the grill first thing. We finished those off with a small sprinkling of brown sugar and a little bit of cinnamon. They absolutely melted in our mouths... it was like candy!!

After chopping a jalapeno for the sauce, we still had a couple jalapenos left that needed to be used. We also had some half-slices of low-sodium bacon leftover from breakfast on Saturday. I grabbed some neufchatel (melts better than regular cream cheese and has 33% less fat) cheese, stuffed the jalapeno, then wrapped it in a half slice of bacon.

Those went in a cast-iron skillet, then on the grill with the chops and sweet potatoes!

via

We enjoyed our dinner while watching the Mavs play! We had also spent some time at the pool that day, so D fell asleep during the 3rd quarter of the game. I tried and tried and tried to wake him up all during the 4th quarter; I knew he wouldn't want to miss seeing them win the championship! There was NO waking him, unfortunately, but at least I got to watch the Mavs win it all in Game 6!! Go Dallas!!!!