IN THE KITCHEN WITH: Derek's Rustic Coastal Cuisine

By Observer Staff
| 4:00 a.m. May 28, 2014

With an ever-changing menu, executive chef and owner Derek Barnes focuses on rustic, coastal cuisine with an emphasis on fresh seafood.

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This week we went in the kitchen at Derek's Rustic Coastal Cuisine with executive chef and owner Derek Barnes and chef de cuisine Adam Straatman while he prepares the restaurant's Grilled Double Cut Pork Chop, which is served with a hash of sauteed pulled pork, sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts, and finished with a mole sauce.

With an ever-changing menu, executive chef and owner Derek Barnes focuses on rustic, coastal cuisine with an emphasis on fresh seafood while offering guests a dining experience that is fresh, new, fun and casual.

Derek's Rustic Coastal Cuisine is open for lunch from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, and serves dinner 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

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Scroll down for an instructional video on how to prepare the dish.

Grilled Double Cut Pork Chop

Grilled Double Cut Pork Chop inredients:
1 thick pork rib chop on bone
2 onion rings
Mole sauce (tomatoes, peppers, cocoa and herbs to taste)
Oil
Salt and pepper

Maple hash ingredients:
1 cup par cooked sweet potatoes (cubed)
1 cub Brussels sprouts
1 tablespoon scallions (chopped)
1 ounce pulled pork
Maple syrup

Grilled Double Cut Pork Chop preparation:
Start with hot grill, place pork chop on grill to start cooking. While pork chop is cooking, you can prepare the maple hash. Heat oil in skillet over medium to high heat. Add sweet potatoes and Brussels sprouts to pan. Be sure to put the Brussels sprouts face down in pan so they get a caramelized color. Add salt and pepper to taste. After about five minutes rotate the pork chop half way in order to get cross hatch grill marks on chop. Continue to sauté the potato and Brussels sprouts until vegetables are caramelized. Add one ounce of pulled pork to sauté dish. Drizzle maple syrup in pan, mix well, and add scallions to the hash. When the pork chop is cooked, start plating the dish by putting the hash in the center of the plate. Place the pork chop on top of the hash and top with your homemade mole sauce. Garnish with two fried onion rings and more scallions.