Grilled Pork Cutlets

This is completely unrelated to anything having to do with food, but have you discovered Spotify yet? Oh man...I'm so in love with it. It's similar to Pandora except if you search on a song or artist or album, you get to choose what you want to listen to instead of getting a mix based on that. Oh man...it's freakin' fantastic! Right now I'm listening to one of the Glee soundtracks. The only problem is that I get overwhelmed with music choices thinking of everything I could possibly listen to. The other day I listened to the entire Annie soundtrack. Oh how I love Annie, you have no idea. Then Boy #1 came downstairs when his afternoon quiet time was done and said, "Mom, what are you listening to? Turn it off, this isn't good." He's five. Sheesh.

Anyway, I've tried to stick with most of our dinners coming from the grill or crockpot. I remembered a Cook's Illustrated magazine I bought a couple summers ago that is aptly named Summer Grilling. They're clever folks there at Cook's Illustrated when it comes to naming things. I couldn't remember ever having grilled pork before, so I wanted to give this a try. Plus I had just about everything on hand for it which is always a plus.

Grilled Pork Cutlets
Source: Cook's Illustrated Summer Grilling 2009 magazine

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp minced fresh thyme leaves
3/4 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
12 thin-cut boneless pork chops (about 2 pounds), trimmed of excess fat and pounded into 1/4-inch thick cutlets

Combine vinegar, oil, garlic, thyme, sugar, salt, and pepper in large zipper lock plastic bag. Transfer chops to bag and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to two hours.

Turn all burners on gas grill to high and heat grill with lid down until very hot, about 15 minutes. Scrape grate clean with grill brush. Dip wad of paper towels in oil; holding wad with tongs, wipe cooking grate.

Remove cutlets from bag and discard marinade. Grill cutlets with lid down until bottoms begin to turn opaque around edges, about 2 minutes. Flip cutlets and grill until just cooked through, about 30 seconds. Transfer to platter, tent with foil, and let rest 5 minutes. Serve with Spicy Fruit Salsa.

Spicy Fruit Salsa
Spicy Fruit Salsa:
1 jalapeno chile, seeded and minced (don't seed if you want it spicy)
1 shallot, minced
2 tsp cider vinegar
2 tsp honey
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 ripe peaches, pitted and chopped fine
2 ripe plums, pitted and chopped fine
1 Tbsp finely chopped basil leaves
Table salt

Whisk jalapeno, shallot, vinegar, honey, and oil in small bowl. Let sit until flavors combine, about 15 minutes.

Combine peaches and plums in a large bowl. Add 1/2 cup of fruit to bowl with jalapeno mixture and mash with potato masher until smooth. Add mashed fruit mixture and basil to bowl with cut fruit and stir until combined. Season with salt and let sit until flavors combine, about 15 minutes.

*****

Let me tell you...I mashed and mashed my fruit and never got it smooth, so I finally gave up and kept it chunky. I know a lot of people don't dig on meat with a sweet accompaniment, but some combinations don't bother me. Like this one. The fruit salsa was so tasty with the jalapeno and the bite it gave the salsa, mixed with sweet peaches and plums. Yum! I don't think I read the recipe for the salsa all the way through before starting dinner, so I didn't let it sit as long as was recommended, but it was still tasty. Boy #1 didn't want any of the "sauce" on his meat, but Boy #2 had it and loved it. The husband and I loved it, so I call it a success! If you plan ahead enough for the fruit salsa, this really comes together fast. We had it with some steamed broccoli and super tasty Rick Bayless Barbecue Baked Beans. This was a great tasty summer dinner! There were actually two variations included in the magazine, too. One used rosemary and red wine vinegar for the marinade, and the other called for cumin, cilantro, and lime juice. I may have to try one of those at some point too!

(Sadly my camera was upstairs, and instead of making my family wait to eat while I went to grab it, I took a picture with my phone.)