Simple Pork Marinade

Last night was a strange night. Nothing really out of the ordinary, just strange. I think the panic hit that I have a ton to do over the next two days and Thursday is out as I'll be at work until late for a performance. Which leaves me just 3-4 hours to accomplish a whole lot on Friday night.

And among that panic was...I GOTTA GET DINNER STARTED...which is funny because dinner couldn't have been any easier. The only reason for the panic; I needed to devote 5 minutes


We get started by making a marinade for some pork chops I had. The other day I was reading through Anne's Food and saw two tasty looking marinades. I went with the first one...for now. I'll try the other one later.

This marinade guideline is virtually the same as Anne's. One additional ingredient and approximate measures of the others.

To get us started we had the juice of 1 lemon, 3 TB soy sauce, 2 TB honey, 1 tsp chili powder (Chimayo in this case), 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, sliced and 1/2 tsp of Chinese Five Spice.

Whisk all together and add the pork (chops or loin). Cover and walk away for at least an hour, four or more if you have the time.

Back to the panic of dinner and getting everything else done. I didn't have time to stop at the store to get any additional ingredients or side items. I used what we had. 1 green bell pepper, diced. 1 onion, diced. 2 potatoes, diced. Hash Browns it is! Saute the potatoes in some oil until they begin to take on some color. Season with salt/pepper or your favorite seasoning blend. Add the onions. When your potatoes are nearly tender, add the peppers. Saute until they are tender, but with a tiny crunch. Finish with a small pat of butter for additional flavor is you like.

Completed dinner. The chops were great. Juicy and tender with some good flavor. The marinade doesn't get all the way into the meat when you only give it an hour, but the flavor is there! Next time I pan to do this, I will make the marinade the night before, then the morning I plan to make the chops, add them to the marinade. This will give them a good 8-10 hours of flavor time. The hash browns didn't really "go" with the chops, but they were delicious!