Want to dress up an ordinary pork chop . . . add some cheese and pico de gallo with avocado and corn. It will definitely make your taste buds happy. Add a baked potato or a side green salad and you’ve got a complete meal. My family used to cringe when I made pork, they complained it was dry and didn’t have any flavor. Since then I’ve found ways to make pork more tender and juicy. For myself, I’ve found that if I soak the pork in a brine of water, salt and sugar for at least an hour it makes a much more tender pork chop. I seasoned them with a tasty salt blend and added a topping of pico de gallo with avocado and corn. There were no complaints or any leftovers either for that matter.
Place your pork chops in a zip lock bag with 1 cup of water, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon sugar. Seal it up and place in the fridge for at least an hour, or up to a day.
I seasoned the pork with a salt blend called Hot Lava that we picked up in Hawaii. It’s become one of my favorite salt blends.
Here’s a closer look at the ingredients list. You can order these salt blends at saltywahine.com.
I took the chops out of the brine and patted them dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle them with the salt blend.
Drizzle some olive oil over top.
Place the pork chops on a hot grill season side down. Sprinkle salt blend over the other side.
Another drizzle of olive oil.
I checked them after about 5 – 6 minutes. Lift them up slightly to see how browned they are then turn over for another 5 – 6 minutes. Adjust your grill time based on the thickness of your pork chop.
See how that black sea salt just melted into the pork. Another 5 – 6 minutes.
The Irish cheese was on sale so I picked up this gouda style cheese to slice up and place over the chops.
I placed the slices on just a minute or two before pulling them off the grill.
While making up the pico I forgot to take the picture after the corn was added, but you get the idea.
Top off your tender pork chop with some pico with avocado and corn. It’s delicious!
Grilled Pork Chops with Avocado Corn Pico
3 – 4 Pork Chops (3/4 inch thick)
1 cup Water
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Sugar
Salt Blend (I used Gourmet Hawaiian Hot Lava)
Olive Oil
4 ounces Gouda Cheese, sliced
Avocado Corn Pico, recipe follows
Make a brine of 1 cup water, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon sugar. Pour into a zip lock bag, add pork chops and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 1 day.
Pat pork chops dry with a paper towel. Sprinkle pork with salt blend and drizzle with olive oil. Place pork salt side down on a hot grill, then sprinkle salt blend and drizzle olive oil on the other side. Let cook 5 – 6 minutes, turn and cook an additional 5 – 6 minutes. The last 2 minutes of cooking time place 3 or 4 thin slices of gouda cheese over top of pork chop to melt.
Remove from hot grill and top with Avocado Corn Pico.
Serves 3 – 4
Avocado Corn Pico
1 Tomato, diced
1 Jalapeno, seeded and diced
1/4 cup Red Onion, diced small
1/4 cup Cilantro, roughly chopped
1 clove Garlic, minced
1 Avocado, peeled, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup Corn
Spritz of Lime Juice
Salt to taste
Combine diced tomato and next 6 ingredients together in a medium bowl. Spritz with lime juice and salt to taste.
An Inspired Cook 