This is the main course we served with the grilled eggplant parmesan.  It too came from a Wall Street Journal article about Chef Michel Nischan and his new Connecticut restaurant, The Dressing Room.

I cooked these pork chops on my charcoal grill because I wanted a hotter fire that I could control more easily but a gas grill would work too. The recipe calls for starting them over a hot fire and finishing them on the cooler side of the grill.

WARNING – Don’t walk away from the grill when the chops are on the hot side for any reason. I made the mistake of going inside for just a couple of minutes to open a bottle of wine for our guests and overcooked a few of the chops. It turned out all right but could have been a disaster.

Grilled Pork Chops Served with Summer Beans

Ingredients:

• 3 cloves garlic
• ½ cup grapeseed oil
• ¼ cup orange juice
• ¼ cup honey
• 2-tablespoons grated lemon zest
• 2-tablespoons grated orange zest
• 2-tablespoon fresh oregano
• 2-tablespoon fresh sage
• 2-teaspoons coarsely cracked black peppercorns plus freshly ground black pepper
• 6 boneless pork loin chops, 1½ inch thick
• 6 bunches fresh rosemary
• 1½ pounds fresh green beans
• 2-teaspoons extra virgin olive oil

Prep the Ingredients

Peel the garlic and carefully crush with the side of a knife, a meat mallet or a garlic press if you have one. Grate the lemon and orange zest. Chop the oregano and sage. Crack the peppercorns. Clean the beans and trim the stem ends.

How to Make at Home

Prepare the Marinade – Sprinkle salt over the crushed garlic on a cutting board and using the side of a butter knife, make a paste. Place the paste in a large resealable freezer bag big enough to hold and marinate the pork chops. Add the grapeseed oil, orange juice, honey, zests, oregano, sage and cracked black peppercorns.

Add the pork chops, seal and shake to coat evenly. Let this marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Be sure to give yourself enough time so you can remove the chops from the refrigerator 30 minutes prior to cooking to bring the meat to room temperature.

Prepare the Rosemary – Put the rosemary bunches in a large bowl of cold water and soak for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.

Prepare the Grill – Be sure to start with a clean grill and lightly coat with oil before cooking. I like the spray Pam for this. If using charcoal, make a pile to one side of the grill. That will be the hot side where you cook the chops over direct heat. The other side will be called the cool side even though it’s still hot but the heat will be indirect. If using a gas grill, turn one side of the burners to high and the other to low or medium depending on how hot your grill gets. (For More Grilling Tips)

Cooking the Pork Chops and Green Beans – When the grill is ready, remove the pork chops from the marinade and season with salt and pepper. Place the chops on the hot side of the grill and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes per side. They should have great looking grill marks but stay focused so not to burn them.

Drain the rosemary and shake off any excess water. Place 1/3 of the rosemary on the cool side of the grill being sure to place it perpendicular so it doesn’t fall through the grate. Now move the pork chops from the hot side of the grill and place on top of the rosemary. Top the chops with ½ of the remaining rosemary. Cover the grill and cook until the internal temperature of the pork is 145° F. This takes about 10 minutes.

Remove the cover and place the green beans next to the pork chops to create a bed of beans in a single layer. Put the remaining rosemary sprigs on top of the green beans. Now carefully put the pork chops on top of the green beans and rosemary. Discard the rosemary that was underneath the pork chops.

Note: we used one of those vegetable grates with the little holes in it so the beans wouldn’t fall through the grate. Our grill also wasn’t big enough so I removed the pork chops and rosemary to a platter, put down the vegetable grate and then started the layering. And I didn’t have enough rosemary so I used what was under the pork chops instead of discarding.

Continue to cook with the cover on until the beans are done and the pork reaches an internal temperature of 150° F. This should take about 6 minutes.

Serving Up – When the beans and chops are done, remove the top layer of rosemary but save it for garnish. Place a pork chop on each plate. Quickly remove the green beans and toss them with olive oil and season with a little salt and pepper. Divide and plate the green beans with the chops, add a little rosemary for garnish and serve.

Alternative Serve Up – You could also serve this family style by plating all the green beans on a platter and top with the pork chops and cooked rosemary. Looks great at the dinner table but does require your guests to serve themselves.

Side note – I thought I might have overcooked the pork chops but everyone at the table thought they came out just right.