Grilled Porkchops with Chipotle Butter

Our parents first made a recipe similar to this using Fischer and Wiesser Roasted Raspberry Chipotle Sauce, but Leslie has never managed to have that in the house when she decided to make her version. The kids love this recipe (sans chipotle--more on this later), and the compound butter is great over grilled anything--veggies (esp. zucchini), fish, chicken breasts, pork tenderloin, and pork chops. Make some extra compound butter, and a quick weeknight meal is a snap if you marinate the chops starting the night or morning before serving!


Pork Chops with Chili Rub and Chipotle Butter
1 - 1 1/2 lbs boneless pork chops--sirloin chops are pictured here

1 T olive oil

1 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 tsp garlic powder or 2 garlic cloves mashed into a paste

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

the juice of 1/2 lime (zest the entire lime and reserve zest)

Put all of the above ingredients in a bowl or large ziploc bag and toss to coat pork chops. Let marinate for about one hour, and for as much as 24 hours.

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Meanwhile . . . make a compound chipotle butter. A compound butter is simply butter that has added flavorings http://www.slashfood.com/2006/06/14/what-is-compound-butter/. Chipotle peppers are smoked jalapenos. They are sold in the Mexican food section, and are preserved in adobo sauce. Buy a can for approximately $1, use one or two for this recipe, and bag the remaining peppers individually and freeze. Pull one out when you want to add some heat and smokiness to something--more on that later.

Chipotle peppers look like this . . .

Freeze extras like this . . .

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Chipotle Compound Butter

1 stick softened butter

zest of one whole lime, minced fine

the juice of 1/2 lime

1 clove garlic, mashed into a paste

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1 chipotle, minced--if you like it hotter add another

Stir all of the ingredients except the chipotle together. Remove about 1/3 of the butter and chill--this will be the mild butter to serve to the kids. Stir the chiopotle into the remaining 2/3 of the compound butter. Scoop the chipotle butter onto a piece of waxed paper, roll up and twist the ends of the paper like a piece of candy, and chill.

This is chipotle butter, not a diaper . . .

Grill the porkchops over medium high heat--you don't want to burn the chili rub. While the chops are still nice and hot, serve each one with a round of the cold compound butter on top. As the butter melts, it makes a scrumptious sauce for the chops.

Slice the butter like this . . .

So your pork chop looks like this, then eat!

P.S. When cooking with a two year old little boy, it was discovered that Goldfish crackers taste good dipped in the soft chipotle butter.