Still In A Spanish Mode

On Sunday evening we gathered with friends and had a fabulous dinner at Barcelona, a Spanish tapas restaurant It’s Birthday Time Once Again. In case you hadn’t noticed, I love all Spanish foods. I think I must have been a Spanish chef in another life. 🙂

I knew I was cooking pork chops for dinner, but I had no idea how I wanted to prepare them. So of course, I hit my culinary library and searched until the perfect recipe just popped out to me. And wouldn’t you know, it was a a recipe for Spanish pork chops. Surprise, surprise! So I guess I am still in a Spanish mode and a Spanish frame of mind.

These pork chops are from Southern Spain, where there are large Basque and Moorish influences, so the spices used were both Basque and Moorish. I made my dish as the whole pork chops, but you can also make them into little pork bites, or as they are known in Spain, pinchos morunos. I seared my pork chops, but if you are making them in smaller pieces or small bites, you can also skewer them and grill them too. At the moment, it is still a bit chilly to be outside grilling, though it won’t be too much longer and we can comfortably be out grilling again. You can use these same flavorings for chicken as well.

Spanish Pork Chops

1- 2 lbs of pork

1 1/2 tsp ground coriander

1 1/2 tsp cumin

1 1/2 tsp paprika

salt & pepper to taste

1 TBSP lemon juice

1 TBSP honey

1 TBSP garlic

olive oil

butter

chopped fresh oregano

Combine all the dry spices together. Pat the pork dry with a paper towel. Coat the pork chops, or pieces, in the spice mixture, cover and let set at room temperature for at least 1/2 hour before cooking. As I mentioned above, I seared my pork in a very hot skillet with a combination of olive oil and butter. But you can also grill these too. Depending on the thickness of the pork, it is usually about 3 minutes per side on average, and then another 2-3 minutes per side again. Flip the meat in between though so it doesn’t burn and to ensure it cooks evenly and more thoroughly.

Combine the lemon juice, garlic, honey and chopped oregano. Pour over the cooked pork and top with another sprig or two of the oregano and serve.

Though we ate most of everything while at Barcelona, after many rounds of fabulous dishes that kept coming our way, we were pretty full, so there was still a little leftover that we brought home with us. One of the leftovers we brought home was some of the roasted parsnips. There wasn’t enough for the both of us, so I just added some pan roasted carrots to the mix and served them with the pork, along with a new, delicious couscous salad and warmed pita bread and hummus.

Any kind of wine would go well with this dish; red, or white, and preferably un delicioso vino espanol. Had I thought of it ahead of time, either my favorite Spanish Albarino or my new bottle of Tempranillo that I got as a birthday present would have been very good choices for wine pairings. Oh well, next time. 🙂

Have a great day and make every day great. Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.