Tonight's Dinner: Grilled Pork Chops with 21 Club Creamed Spinach

This was tonight's dinner. My husband loved it so much he said that it was what he wanted for his birthday (which is a week from last night).

He just adores creamed spinach. I'm usually not that big on it. This time it was excellent. Even my 12 year old ate some of his without complaint.

The marinade has to be cooked a bit to create the pan sauce - do it over MED to MED-LOW  heat so that it doesn't burn when it caramelizes.

*  Exported from  MasterCook  *

              Grilled Pork Chops w/"21" Club Creamed Spinach

Recipe By     : adapted from Michele G. Peck
Serving Size  : 4    Preparation Time :0:00
Categories    : Main Dishes                      Meat

  Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
--------  ------------  --------------------------------
   4                    pork loin chops
                        Marinade & Sauce:
     3/4  cup           lemon juice
     1/2  cup           extra-virgin olive oil
   1      ts            sea salt
   1      ts            chicken rub -- * see note
   1      tb            agave nectar -- ** see note
   1 1/2  ts            hot sauce
   1      ts            freshly ground black pepper
   1      tb            reduced sodium soy sauce
   1      tb            dijon mustard
   1      clove         garlic -- minced
                        Creamed Spinach:
   1      10 oz pkg     frozen spinach -- thawed & squeeze dry
     1/2  cup           heavy cream
   1      tb            unsalted butter
     3/4  ts            salt
     1/8  ts            pepper
          dash          freshly ground nutmeg

For pork: Place pork chops and all marinade ingredients into a large ziptop bag. Seal and rub the meat with the marinade. Refrigerate until 1/2 hour before ready to cook.

When ready to cook: Preheat a large skillet over MED-HIGH heat. Add a bit of olive oil. Drain and reserve the marinade. Place chops in the pan and cook for 6 minutes until golden brown and then turn over and do the same on the other side. About halfway through, add the reserved marinade, bring to a simmer, then turn off the heat and cover the skillet. Let sit for about 10 minutes while you cook the spinach and make any other side dishes.

For spinach: Squeeze out all the excess liquid from the spinach. Place in a blender or food processor and puree. Put a saucepan over MED head and add the butter.  Once the butter is melted, add the spinach and warm through. Add some of the cream. the salt, pepper and nutmeg. Cook, stirring, until the cream is absorbed into the spinach and the mixture looks a bit creamy. Add more cream if necessary.

Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if necessary.

To serve: Place some mashed potatoes (or a baked potato) on the plate, top with one pork chop, and put 1/4 of the spinach on the plate. Drizzle the pan sauce over the chop and serve.

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NOTES : Risa's notes:

* I used Emeril's Chicken Rub but the original recipe called for poultry seasoning.
** The original called for 1 tbsp honey. I used agave nectar which isn't as sweet.

The recipe for the chops was originally a chicken recipe in the book "Gourmet Guide for Busy People by Famous People. The spinach recipe comes from Secrets From New York's Best Restaurants.