Grilled Maple-Dijon Center Cut Pork Chops with Sweet and Sour Broccoli Slaw

Our family is in the thick of the sporting season. It is busy around our house, but not crazy out of control. My personal chef business EAT! has been keeping me hopping too. Everyone wants food which is good for business.

With The Husband's travel, my personal chef service, My Oldest's 2 softball teams, My Middle One's 1 softball team, and No Thank You Boy's lacrosse schedule, the five of us eating together has been kinda tricky lately. I don't like to sound like one of those mom's who complain about how busy we are. This is what we signed up for so if we want to be less busy, we shouldn't participate in so many activities. Pretty easy to figure that one out. I'd rather have a game to watch or a menu to plan for a client than sit on the couch every night. Don't get me wrong, I do love a good rerun of Will and Grace or Everybody Loves Raymond with a Cosmo every so often. Off my soapbox and back to dinner.

A quick dinner that the whole family ate together last night. Grilled Maple-Dijon Center Cut Pork Chops with Sweet and Sour Broccoli Slaw exceeded my expectations. Very satisfying and a minimal amount of work for Chef/Mom. I brined the chops for about an hour before dinner (6 cups cold water mixed with 3 tablespoons each of salt and sugar) to ensure juicy pork, cooked up the glaze, and prepared the slaw. Total hands-on prep time was about 30 minutes at most. A big bowl of steaming jasmine rice was served on the side.

"This looks really, really, really, really good," commented My Oldest as she swiped the plate of food I was photographing for the post. "I love the apples," said No Thank You Boy of the Granny Smith added to the glaze. My Middle One must have enjoyed the meal because she was the first one done. Or maybe she was trying to hurry along our departure to the mall for some shopping. "Good crunch to the slaw," The Husband chimed in.

Fire up the grill. Dinner's Ready!


Grilled Maple-Dijon Center Cut Pork Chops

serves 5

5 center cut pork chops, about 1-inch thick, brined (recipe above)
Penzey's Chicago Steak Seasoning or Montreal Steak Seasoning
2 tablespoons butter, divided
1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled and sliced thin
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

Season pork chops with steak seasoning and set aside.

Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a saute pan over medium high heat. Add apple slices and cook for about 8 - 10 minutes until tender. Remove from pan.

Add maple syrup, apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, and remaining butter to the same saute pan. Bring to a boil and cook until sauce thickens, about 5 - 8 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the cooked apple slices. Set aside.

Meanwhile, grill the chops until internal temperature reaches about 135 - 140 degrees about 5 minutes per side. Pour maple-Dijon sauce over and serve.


Sweet and Sour Broccoli Slaw

1 - 16 ounce bag of broccoli slaw
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
squeeze of lemon juice - about 1 tablespoon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds
1/4 cup olive oil

Mix sugar, rice wine vinegar, lemon juice, salt, pepper, poppy seeds, and olive oil in a large bowl. Add broccoli slaw and toss to coat. It is best to make this about an hour before serving. Refrigerate.