Recipe #3: Jamaican Jerk Pork Chops and Potatoes Au Gratin

Let me first say, sorry we have not posted in a while.  I do not want to turn this into a cooking blog, so we will do a better job of posting more regularly about other things.

Tonight I made Jamaican Jerk Pork Chops (using Pampered Chef’s jerk spice).  I used the spice before to make jerk chicken nachos, which were delicious, so I decided I would use it on grilled pork chops.  It also gave me an opportunity to use the grill we got from William’s cousins as a wedding gift, which I have only used twice, but I plan to use a lot more.  There is no complicated recipe for the pork chops.  I just sprayed with a little bit of oil, seasoned with the spice and threw them on the grill….very easy.  However, it was nothing to write home about, so I think I will have to try another recipe with marinade since William tends to order pork tenderloin or pork chops frequently when we go out to eat.

As a side dish, I made potatoes au gratin using a recipe out of B Smith’s cookbook, Entertaining and Cooking for Friends. It was a supposed to be a more sophisticated version of your traditional potatoes au gratin and I am definitely adding this to the rotation.  It used a combination of Gruyere and Parmesan cheese and was very good.  The only modification I would make is not adding as much butter.

I also made a salad using spinach, strawberries, pecans and Kraft’s Light Done Right Raspberry Vinaigrette dressing.  I really do not care too much for pecans, but they are good in an occasional salad.

As always, more pictures can be found on my flickr page.

Potatoes Au Gratin (courtesy of B. Smith)

Ingredients:

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ pounds Idaho potatoes, peeled and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices

½ cup grated Gruyère cheese

½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon paprika

Preheat the oven to 350? F. Butter a 1 ½ quart baking dish with about 1 tablespoon of the softened butter.

Arrange a layer of potatoes in the baking dish, and sprinkle some of the cheeses over them. Continue layering potatoes and cheeses until you’ve used them all, ending with a layer of potatoes.

In a small bowl, whisk the cream with the salt and pepper; pour this over the potatoes. Dot the remaining butter over the top, and sprinkle with the paprika. Bake for 1 to 1 ¼ hours, or until the potatoes are tender and golden brown on top. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.