Portuguese Roast Pork with bulghur wheat pilaff

We have had a lot of very simple salads with grilled meat recently, nothing very exciting to tell you about at all.  However, last week, I made this, and it is really very tasty indeed.

I make Portuguese style roast pork using a loin of pork with this marinade, and it worked brilliantly with a midweek pork chop. It is simple to do but somehow the flavour is quite different to anything else.

Take your pork chops and put them in a small roasting dish, just big enough to hold them. Over the top squeeze a fresh orange and a fresh lemon, and scatter a crushed clove of garlic over. Add a sprinkle of salt and pepper, a glass of white wine (or sherry is fine) and a couple of tablespoons of red wine vinegar.  Cover with clingfilm and marinate in the fridge for a couple of hours, anything up to overnight is fine.

When you are ready to cook them, top with an ounce or two of butter and a chopped fresh tomato, and cook for around 35 minutes at a moderate temperature, basting occasionally. Do not cover the pan.

In the meantime, you can make a bulghur pilaff using the same cracked wheat that makes perfect tabouleh salad.  Fry a finely chopped onion until soft and golden in olive oil, then add one cup of bulghur wheat, half a teaspoonful of stock powder, and a sprinkling of your favourite herb (I like thyme) and 2 cups of water. Bring to the boil with a lid on, then turn the heat down and cook for around 10-15 mins until nearly all the stock is absorbed.  Turn the heat off and allow the wheat to sit until all the liquid has gone, and the wheat is fluffy.