Eh!!

The other night I made Mango-Cucumber Salsa and a Guava Marinated Pork Chop.  It didn't turn out quite as I had hoped, my reaction was Eh!  My husband's was the same, in fact he gave this meal my lowest score yet, 2.5 asparagus stalks.  His biggest complaint was the toughness of the meat.  We won't point out to him that he actually did the cooking as far as the pork goes (ha,ha). He also thought the flavor of the marinade was not strong enough. 

I do think there are just a few tweaks that need to be made to the dish to make it a good meal.  One thing I would do next time is let the pork marinade longer and secondly I would not cook the pork in a grill pan on the top of the stove.  My original intent was to grill the pork chops on the grill however it was pouring down rain when we were trying to cook so we had to come up with a plan B.  I think plan B should have been baking it in the oven.  The issue with the grill pan was the guava glaze started to burn and the meat got a little tough because it took so long to cook through.

Mango-Cucumber Salsa
In a bowl combine the following ingredients:
2/3 cup of diced mango
2/3 cup of diced cucmber
2/3 cup of diced red onion
1/3 cup of diced red bell pepper
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
1/4 cup of diced green bell pepper
1 tomato diced
Chopped Cilantro
Salt

I think its a good idea to make this a little ahead of time so that it has time to incorporate some of the flavors
Guava Glazed Pork Chop
I used bonless center cut pork chops
1 cup Jumex Guava nectar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon hoisin sauce
Salt and Pepper

Combine all of the ingredients in a ziplock bag and add pork chops.  Let the pork marinade for at least 3 hours.
When you are ready to cook I would say the preferred method would be to grill the pork until done.
If you want to brush the pork with a little of the marinade while it is grilling be sure to reserve a bit before you add the meat to the ziplock bag.

I will have to try this one again to redeem myself. :)

Cucumber Dill Sauce

We still have quite a few vegetables that need to be used from our bushel delivery.  Last night I was trying to think of a dish featuring cucumbers, but wanted to steer clear of making a salad. The next thing that came to mind was tzatziki sauce and gyros.  In an effort to keep the meal a little more on lighter side, we went with chicken breasts served on pita bread and incorporated a cucumber dill sauce.

Cucumber Dill Sauce

1 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
1/3 cup sour cream
1 cucumber, seeded and peeled, chopped in thin small pieces
3-4 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 minced garlic clove
the juice of a half of lemon
salt and pepper
mix all ingredients well and chill

Chicken Breasts
Marinade boneless, skinless chicken breast in Strompolos' Lemonaki Mint Dressing and Marinade for about 2 hours.  Grill chicken on indirect heat for about 12 minutes on either side. Then finish off the chicken on direct heat for a couple minutes to brown up the outside. The temperature should be approximately 425 degrees.



Place pita bread on grill for a minute or so to just soften up the bread.

Toppings: I garnished our gyros with feta cheese, sliced sweet onion, heirloom tomato slices and of course the cucumber dill sauce.

I baked Alexia Sweet Potato Fries as a side item.  We've had them a number of times and have enjoyed them every time. Stella is also a pretty big fan of them.

This meal was rate 3 asparagus spears