Low-Carb Lesson #39: Lemon & Garlic Pork Chops

Low Carb Cooking 101: Low-Carb Lesson #39: Lemon & Garlic Pork Chops

Spring is in the air, and it’s about time! My crocuses are finally blooming – only a month late – and there is actually no snow in the forecast. This winter has been so incredibly nasty! (My sympathies go out to those folks who live in Colorado and just got 7 feet of snow last week!)

Tonight’s meal takes advantage of two different spring vegetables, radishes and spinach. If you garden, you’re going to want to plant both. Radishes are particularly easy. We had a neighbor when we lived in Hicksville, Ohio (yes, there really is a town named Hicksville!) who used to bring us over bunches and bunches of radishes each spring. I finally asked him why he planted so many more than his family could use, and he replied, “Oh, we hate radishes, but they’re the only thing we’ve been able to grow.” Evidently, even someone with a brown thumb can grow radishes.

Before I go any further, I want to admit that I did not come up with the idea of boiling radishes for faux potatoes myself. The idea originally comes from someone on the Texas Low Carb List, and I first tried them when I was down in Florida. Rani Meren’s husband, Steve, was boiling some to see if the idea really worked, and by gosh it did! Boiled radishes lose all their radish flavor and attain the consistency of boiled new red potatoes. Don’t take my word for it; try them and see for yourself.

While tonight’s menu take a little advance preparation, you can work that to your own advantage by preparing extra hard-boiled eggs, bacon, and sliced onions. I always cook more bacon than I need for one recipe and keep it in the refrigerator, and I always slice up a whole pile of onions at a time. I keep some of the onions in Zip Lock bags in the refrigerator, and others in a Zip Lock bag in the freezer to quickly add to stir fries, casseroles, etc. I also keep strips of bell peppers in Zip Lock bags in the freezer for the same reason – anything to make meals go together more quickly.

I hope you enjoy tonight’s meal, and are able to take the time to go for some leisurely walks to enjoy the fine weather.

Here’s this evening’s simple menu:

• Lemon And Garlic Pork Chops
• Radishes Redeaux (With apologies to John Updike.)
• Crunchy Spinach Salad

Here’s the shopping list for the meal. You may very well already have some of these things on hand:

• 8 1-inch-thick boneless pork chops
• 6 strips bacon
• 2 8-ounce packages radishes
• 1 16-ounce package prewashed spinach
• mung bean sprouts, fresh or 1 8-ounce can sliced water chestnuts, drained
• 1 small onion
• fresh lemon juice
• butter
• 4 eggs
• olive oil
• salad dressing of your choice
• jarred minced garlic (or fresh garlic bulbs)
• dried thyme, crushed
• dried parsley
• paprika
• salt
• pepper

Here’s the game plan:

This meal requires a small amount of advance preparation, so begin the evening before or in the morning of the day you want to serve it.

Hard-boil the eggs. As long as you have to hard-boil 4, you might as well hard-boil a dozen so that you have extras for more salads, egg salad, deviled eggs, or snacking on out of hand.

Cook the bacon until it is crisp and drain it. Blot off any extra grease with a paper towel. When the bacon is cooled, crumble the bacon and put it in a small container with a lid. Put this in the refrigerator until it is time to put the salads together.

Prepare the marinade for the pork chops, pour in into a plastic Zip Lock bag, and place the pork chops in the bag. Close the bag tightly and put it into the refrigerator.

As long as you’re doing prep work, you might as well trim and slice the onion and trim the radishes. Put the onion slices and the trimmed radishes in Zip Lock bags in the refrigerator.

About 40 to 45 minutes before you want to serve the meal, put the radishes in a large pot or saucepan of water on the stove and start them cooking. Preheat the broiler, and when it’s ready, take the pork chops out of the marinade and put them on a broiler pan, then broil them according the recipe directions.

While the pork chops are broiling and the radishes are boiling, set the table and put the salads together.

Take the pork chops out of the oven and set them on a trivet or cutting board to rest while you drain and season the radishes.

Serve the hot dishes, call the family from where ever they happen to be hiding while you do all the work, and sit down to a well-deserved, relaxing meal.

And, finally, here’s the recipes:

Lemon And Garlic Pork Chops Recipe

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

• Eight 1-inch-thick boneless pork chops, thawed if frozen
• 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3 to 4 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons dried thyme, crushed
• paprika, to taste

In a small bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, and thyme.

Put the pork chops in a 1-gallon zipped plastic bag and pour the marinade over them. Seal the bag and rotate several times to mix the marinade and chops well. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours and up to 12.

Preheat the broiler.

Remove the chops from the plastic bag. Discard the marinade. Put the chops on rack and sprinkle with paprika. Position the rack 4 to 5 inches from the heat and broil for 10 minutes, or until browned. Turn chops, sprinkle with more paprika, and cook for 10 minutes more, or until chops are just done.

Serve hot.

Serves 8.

Radishes Redeaux Recipe

• 2 8-ounce packages radishes
• 1/2 cup butter
• salt (to taste)
• pepper (to taste)
• parsley (optional – for garnish)

Wash and trim the radishes, cutting off the root and stem ends.

Place the radishes in a large pot or saucepan and cover with water. Bring the water to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to medium or medium-high (depending on your stove), and simmer the radishes for 20 to 30 minutes, or until they are tender.

Check for doneness by piercing the radishes with a sharp knife. The tip of the knife should go through smoothly, as it would for potatoes. If the center of the radishes are still hard, then return them to the stove and cook 5 to 10 minutes longer.

Drain the radishes thoroughly and toss them with the butter. Add salt and pepper to taste, and sprinkle with a little dried parsley, if desired.

Serves 4 to 6.

Crunchy Spinach Salad Recipe

• 4 cups fresh spinach, torn
• 2 cups mung bean sprouts, fresh or 1 8-ounce can sliced water chestnuts, drained
• 4 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
• 6 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• salad dressing of your choice

In a large bowl, combine spinach, bean sprouts, water chestnuts, eggs, bacon and onion. Just before serving, your favorite salad dressing over the salad and toss.

Serves 2.

More recipes from Low-Carb 101.