Grilling Chayote & Pork chops, plus dill potato salad

I'm so excited! I finally successfully grilled vegetables. Yes, I've grilled kabobs many times but never seasoned up fresh veggies and grilled them. I had a few chayotes (Mexican pears) in the fridge that I just couldn't decide how to prepare. I read a bunch of chayote squash recipes online, looked through a few Latin cook books, no decision. Man I hate when that happens. I knew I had to cook the chayote soon or they would spoil.

So, my DH was feeling kind of down yesterday. I thought to myself, since hubby loves grilled food, which according to him is food cooked on a charcoal grill not a gas grill, I made my decision... Dinner would be grilled - chayote and boneless pork chops, with a dill potato salad. I have to tell you, our grill is one of those little Weber table top style grills. I would rather have a gas grill but as I said DH prefers that charcoal taste. This is going to be a real test for me.

Here’s how my afternoon of grilling went:

First, I poured some Badia Mojo marinade into a gallon zip lock bag, added the chops, and popped it into the fridge to remain for about two hours. Next I lit the charcoal grill, which takes about an hour or so to be ready to grill. While the grill was heating up, I put about two pounds of baby red potatoes in a large pot, covered with water, added some salt and set them to boil. [I left the skins on the potatoes too.]

Now I had some waiting time, so I watched Bizarre Foods with DH while periodically checking the grill and the taters. We really like that Andrew Zimmern, he’s a brave guy. He was in Korea, eating all kinds of seafood, including octopus tentacles that were still moving, yuck! The octopus would have been just fine with me, but the movement is a NO WAY NO GO in my book!

When the potatoes were done, which took about twenty minutes, I drained them and put them into a bowl to cool down a bit. Once they were cool enough to handle, I cut them into quarters leaving the wonderful red skins intact, sprinkled them with sea salt, and put them in the fridge to chill. I was listening to Andrew as I started on that wonderful Chayote squash, I had two of them. He was talking about and tasting bean paste. Some pretty stinky stuff I understand.

Ok getting back to the Mexican pears…. I used a vegetables peeler to remove the skin. Then I split them in half and removed the core. Now I see why they are called a Mexican Pear, they look and feel very much like a green pear. Even the texture of the meat of the Chayote is like a pear! After coring them I cut them lengthwise about a half an inch thick, put them into a bowl, drizzled EVOO over them, sprinkle with course black pepper then tossed to completely coat. These would sit for about fifteen minutes or so while I finished preparing the grill [UGH]. With the grill hot and ready to go, I laid the prepared Chayote across the grate in a single layer. I let them cook for about ten minutes and turned them. Since the charcoals were pretty evenly spread, almost all of the slices cooked up at the same time.

I was so happy with the way the Chayote turned out; grilling the chops was a real easy task. I put them on, covered the grill and cooked for fifteen minutes on each side. The outcome was easy for me and according to my dear hubby, deliciously grilled!

Oh I almost forgot to tell you about the potatoes in the fridge! While the chops were grilling, I prepared the potato salad. I added three tablespoons of mayonnaise, half a teaspoon of  Adobo my favorite all purpose Latin seasoning, one teaspoon of dill, one teaspoon of red wine vinegar, and a bit of salt and pepper. Gently mixed everything and returned to the fridge until serving time. I have to say, the potato salad was really yummy. It wasn’t really soft and heavy, dressed like common potato salad usually is. It was more like chucks of potatoes, lightly coated with a flavorful dill dressing.

The Chayote was scrumptious and I’m excited for that.  Hubby, who is a carnivore for the most part, even liked them. Sharing a good food show along with the whole grilling idea did cheer him up. Summing it all up, I would say, my afternoon of grilling was a success.

♥