Hatch Chile Extravaganza: Hatch Pork Chops with Hatch & Avocado Puree

The mind is a most wondrous thing. Unfortunately, mine has been terribly addled by my crippling sugar addiction, making this attempt to write about a meal Kevin, Nancy and I made well over a month ago (we'll just call September a wash blog-wise and blame it on a case of writer's meat block) quite the challenge. Now that I've properly hyped it, here is the conclusion of our Hatch Chile Extravaganza, the only entree strong enough to stand up to the delectableness of Hatch Chile Mac & Cheese- Hatch Pork Chops served on top of a hatch and avocado puree.

Hatch Pork Chops with Hatch & Avocado Puree
Adapted from Central Market
Servings: 4
Time: 60 minutes

We looked at this pic for 5 minutes to try to remember what we put in the marinade.

Pork Chops
4 Pork Chops (we used pork ribeyes)
Roasted hatch chiles
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Red Chili Flakes
Garlic

Puree
5 hatch chiles, roasted, skinned and stemmed
1 small avocado, peeled and pitted
1 tsp honey
Juice of one lime
2 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt and pepper

1. Mix the hatch chiles, olive oil, salt, pepper, red chili flakes and garlic together in a food processor and blend well.
2. Marinade the pork chops in the hatch chile mix for at least half an hour.
3. Grill the pork chops for ~8 minutes per side.
4. Combine the remaining hatch chiles, avocado, honey, lime juice, vegetable oil, salt and pepper in a blender and puree well. 
5. Attempt to make a fancy streak of puree on the plate, then give up after realizing the avocado is prohibiting this.
6. Lay your grilled pork chops on top of the puree.
7. Make sure each bite is complimented by the awesome hatch chile and avocado hybrid.

It looks like guac, so you know it has to be good.

Chiles plus avocado can only lead to glorious things, and this was certainly the case with our main course. The pork chop themselves were hearty Texas-sized chunks of porkulation with a nice hit of flavor from the hatch chiles and a gentle kick from the red chili flakes. What was a good chunk of meat was turned into something memorable as soon as it was perched atop the hatch puree. Our puree essentially acted like a guacamole that was slightly sweetened by the honey that provided extra moisture and flavor to our chops compliments of the fantastic roasted hatch chiles. It worked so well, that I could see it going on plenty of different meat options (or tortilla chips). Together with our mac & cheese, we had a fancy meal worthy of fine dining to liven up our footballless Monday night (yup, it was that long ago that the season hadn't started yet). Fear not loyal readers, there's plenty more to come from my September of adventures including not one, not two, not three but four down home recipes from my episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives with my mom and some bacon loaded pizza from California.

The finished meal. Nancy's green beans rounded things out and kept up the color theme.

Good bye, roasted hatch chiles. We'll see you next year (when you can finally use this recipe!).