Grilled Pork Chops with Cherry Salsa

Method

1 Mix the chopped onion with the lemon juice in a small bowl and set aside. The lemon juice will help take the edge off the onions.
2 Coat the pork chops in olive oil and sprinkle salt over them. Set aside at room temperature.
3 Pit and de-stem the cherries. A cherry pitter is magical for this task, but if you don't have one, use a small knife. Double check for stray pits, they always seem to find their way into dishes that call for fresh cherries.
4 Put the cherries, onions and chopped basil into a food processor. Pulse a few times until you have a chunky salsa, with differing textures of cherry. Alternately, you can chop everything by hand.
5 Mix in the balsamic vinegar, the 1/2 teaspoon salt and sugar. Add more of any of these ingredients to taste. Set aside at room temperature. You can make this salsa up to 8 hours in advance.
6 Prepare your grill for high direct heat. Grill the pork chops over high heat with the grill cover closed for 3 minutes. Turn them 45 degrees on the same side to get a pretty cross-hatch pattern, then close the grill cover and cook another 3 minutes. Turn the pork chops over, but this time keep the grill cover open and cook for a final 2-3 minutes. Allow to rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Serve the pork chops with the cherry salsa.

 

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup chopped red onion
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 1/2 pounds cherries, about 4 cups
• 4 pork chops, about 3/4-inch thick
• Salt
• Olive oil
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 heaping teaspoon sugar