grilled lemon grass pork chops~

Jack has been on a grillingfest lately and I'm totally good with that - he does a pretty good job, too, considering the first time he tried to grill a brisket, it was half frozen on the inside and burned to a crisp on the outside and our tough ol' outside dog Rudy refused to eat it. While I snicker at that fun memory, I'll continue...

On Saturday, I was taking engagement portraits of my niece and her fiancee, and by the time we'd finished, it was dark and I was starved. My dear spouse had grilled some chops, and he took care of the ones I had left marinating in the lemon grass mixture I had put together. It was heavenly to walk into the house and smell those wonderful smells floating through the air...ahhh.

OK - so here's the recipe for the marinade. I got it from Mai Pham's cookbook, "The Best of Vietnamese & Thai Cooking" but it was taking forever to chop that lemon grass - either I let it dry out too much or my knife is just way too dull - anyway, this recipe is not the exact same as the one in Pham's cookbook, but instead it has a couple of small changes that I made - still, it was delish.

Grilled Lemon Grass Pork Chops

2 green onions, chopped

2 teaspoons minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced lemon grass

1 teaspoon fish sauce (I'll double this next time)

2 teaspoons soy sauce (I'll make it 1 tablespoon next time)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

4 pork chops

Mix all the ingredients and pour a little in 4 spots (one for each chop) on a deep platter or large flat storage container. Place the chops on top and sort of smush them around to cover the bottom of the chops. Divide the remaining marinade between the chops and rub in with your fingers. Allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes. Grill 5-7 minutes per side, depending on thickness of chops.

I must admit that I took a couple of photos of these luscious pork chops before devouring them - but I accidently erased them from my camera, dang it. So I just dragged out a previous photo of some chops on the grill. Not as pretty as the lemon grass ones, because the tiny bits and pieces of the marinade were grilled onto the pork, and it made an attractive as well as tasty presentation.

If you try this recipe, please let me know, and any changes you made.