Pork chops with Ben’s signature ‘sauce verte’

The latest dish from the Mirabeau Kitchen is pork chops with Ben’s signature adaptation of a ‘sauce verte’. This is a simple recipe, that works nicely for a Summer BBQ. Even better, you can make the sauce the day before to save time, and if you have any leftover sauce verte, you can keep it in the fridge for a couple of weeks, to use on any other grilled meat or fish.

Ben has spent a lot of time playing around with this sauce. It’s a cross between the Argentinian chimichurri, and an Italian ‘salsa verde’. Ben’s version is hand-chopped, so has lots of texture and isn’t too liquid or smooth. Ben uses the salsa verde’s cornichons and anchovies in his sauce, and it’s also got a nice kick to it, à la chimichurri, so works really well with barbecued meat.

The sauce uses coriander, parsley, basil and shallots from the domaine potager, and rosemary and thyme from the garden in the pork marinade. Ben tends to use organic pork from Gap in the Hautes-Alpes, up behind Provence, wherever possible, and recommends asking your butcher or the butcher counter in your local supermarket for high-welfare or organic pork.

Ingredients

• 4 pork chops – free range or organic – ideally rib chops that come from the middle part of the loin. Ask the butcher for ‘French-trimmed’ if you’d like the bone exposed and visible, like we did
• 1 bunch asparagus, with the bottoms snapped off. This is done by bending it until it snaps at the weakest point

Ingredients – Marinade

• 2 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 1 sprig thyme 
• 2 tablespoons Extra Virgin olive oil 
• Black pepper to season

Ingredients – Spicy Sauce Verte

This recipe is for a big batch of sauce verte – as it’s a great sauce with all barbecued food!

• 1 big bunch parsley, roughly chopped
• 1 big handful basil, roughly chopped
• 1 big handful coriander, roughly chopped
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 20g Dijon mustard (or 10g English mustard)
• 8-10 anchovies, roughly chopped 
• 2 teaspoons of capers, roughly chopped
• 2 teaspoons of pickled gherkins (cornichons), roughly chopped
• 30ml cider vinegar
• 30ml red wine vinegar (you can play around with which vinegar to use depending what you have in your cupboard, but steer clear of balsamic)
• 80ml Extra Virgin olive oil

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce verte together in a big bowl. Season, and put in the fridge. This can be done the day before you require it
2. Bring a big pan of salted water to the boil, blanche asparagus for 10-20 seconds, then plunge into iced water
3. Marinate the pork chops and leave in the fridge for a few hours, or overnight if possible
4. Take pork out of fridge 40-60 minutes before you want to cook it. Season generously with salt and cook over a high heat on the BBQ. Alternatively you can cook it on high heat in a frying pan – remove any bits of marinade that may burn (garlic, rosemary etc.)
5. After a couple of minutes on the first side, look at the colour of the meat to see if they’re ready for turning – the meat should be a light golden brown. When the colour is even on both sides, take them off the heat and rest for five minutes
6. Char the asparagus on the BBQ or in a frying pan
7. Place pork chops on a bed of asparagus on a sharing plate, and drizzle with sauce verte

“I suggest trying this pork dish with a glass of Mirabeau Classic, as our Classic pairs really nicely with aromatic or flavoursome foods. With its raspberry, strawberry and redcurrant aromas, Classic is structured enough to stand up to this dish.”

Ben, Mirabeau Kitchen

We look forward to seeing your #mirabeaumoments on social media as you try this recipe and sip a glass of Classic!