Adobo pork tenderloin with grilled pineapple salsa

Some of the most unexpected ingredients come to life on the grill. Ever tried grilled lettuce? If you haven’t, you should; trust me on that one. In this recipe, pineapple is tossed on the grill to create a unique and delicious salsa for pork tenderloin.

The pork tenderloin is marinated in a mixture of lime juice, garlic and spices. While the pork marinates, the pineapple and some vegetables go onto the grill. The original recipe called for grilling the pineapple with red and yellow bell peppers, and left the red onion and jalapeno raw. I figured that I might as well throw everything onto the grill; I prefer cooked onion over raw onion anyways.

The pineapple only needs a few minutes to cook through – the grilling process really intensifies the flavor of the fruit.

Once the pineapple and vegetables are done, they’re coarsely chopped and mixed with lime juice and cilantro to create a salsa.

After the salsa is made, the pork goes onto the grill. I tend to cook pork until it’s just slightly pink on the inside.

The pork and pineapple salsa is a great flavor combination, but I could also see this salsa being great on chicken or fish.

Spiced pork with root vegetables and gremolata

Let me start by saying this is an amazing recipe from Sunday Suppers at Lucques. It’s definitely one of the best things that I’ve made in the past few months. However, it’s also a very involved recipe, even with the changes I made to simplify some of the steps.

Was it worth the work? Absolutely. The plus side is that a lot of the steps can be done in advance, which is useful because this is going on my dinner party recipe rotation.

First, the pork. Chunks of pork shoulder are coated with coarsely crushed spices, garlic and fresh herbs. The meat needs to sit in the fridge overnight with the spice rub, so plan accordingly. You want a coarse grind on the spices, so a mortar and pestle is the optimal tool. If you don’t have one, you could probably do this in the food processor, just be careful not to grind too fine.

After the pork has had enough time to absorb the flavors of the rub, it’s browned in a little oil. You’ll probably have to brown the meat in two or three batches. Chopped onion, carrot and fennel are added to the pan, along with white wine, chicken stock, lemon zest and sprigs of herbs.

The pork cooks for 3 hours until it’s meltingly tender. The meat is removed from the pot and the braising juices are strained and reduced until slightly thickened.

The second component of the dish is the root vegetables with gremolata. If you can find baby root vegetables, use them. If not, you can cut larger carrots and turnips down into smaller pieces. You can also add parsnips if you like. The vegetables, along with some sliced shallot, are sauteed until caramelized. A bright tasting gremolata of parsley, lemon zest and garlic gets tossed with the vegetables.

The third part of this meal is polenta. Use your favorite recipe – I just cooked the polenta with some chicken stock, salt and butter for about 45 minutes.

To serve, the polenta is spooned into a bowl and topped with some pork and braising liquid. The root vegetables with gremolata go over the top. Alternatively, you could serve this family style with the pork and vegetables in one bowl, and the polenta in a second dish. I think it looks more elegant when individually plated.

Spiced pork with root vegetables and gremolata
Serves 4-6
Adapted from Sunday Suppers at Lucques

For the pork:

2 tsp cumin seeds
1 T coriander seeds
1 T fennel seeds
2 lbs pork shoulder, cut into 2 inch chunks
1/2 tsp cayenne
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 T fresh oregano leaves, plus 2 sprigs
1 T fresh thyme leaves
2 T extra virgin olive oil
1 c diced onion
1/4 c diced carrot
1/2 c diced fennel
2 bay leaves
1 chile de arbol
1 c white wine
2 c chicken stock
1 lemon
4 sprigs cilantro
salt and pepper
cooked polenta for serving

Toast the seeds a few minutes in a small pan over medium heat, until they release their aroma and are lightly browned. Crush them coarsely with a mortar and pestle.

Place the pork in a large bowl or zip top bag with the cumin, coriander, fennel seeds, cayenne, garlic, oregano leaves and thyme. Toss the pork and spices together to coat well. Refrigerate overnight.

Take the meat out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before cooking. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Heat a large dutch oven over high heat for 3 minutes. Pour in the olive oil, and place the meat in the pan in a single layer. Season the meat generously with salt and pepper. Sear the meat until well browned and caramelized on all sides. You may have to brown the meat in batches.

Remove the meat from the pan, set aside. Turn the heat down to medium and add the onion, carrot and fennel. Stir in the bay leaves and chile. Cook 6-8 minutes, or until the vegetables start to caramelize.

Pour in the white wine and scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. Reduce the wine by half. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil.

Using a vegetable peeler, pull long strips of zest from the lemon. Turn off the heat and add the pork to the pot. Tuck the lemon zest, cilantro and oregano sprigs around the meat. Cover the pan with a piece of parchment, pressing the parchment down so it touches the top of the meat. Put a lid on top of the parchment.

Braise for three hours, stirring once per hour. The meat should be fork tender at this point. Take the pot from the oven. Remove the pork from the pot, place on a platter and cover with foil. Ladle the braising juices and vegetables into a strainer set over a saucepan. Skim the fat from the braising juices, then reduce the broth over medium high heat for about 5 minutes, until it slightly thickens. Taste for seasoning.

Pour the hot broth over the browned meat and stir to coat well. Scatter the gremolata root vegetables over the pork. Serve with polenta.

For the root vegetables with gremolata:

Zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 c chopped flat leaf parsley
7 small or 2 large carrots, peeled
12 small or 3 large turnips
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T butter
1/2 c of sliced shallot
3/4 c chicken stock
salt and pepper

Chop the garlic, parsley and lemon zest together until very fine, set aside.

Slice the carrots and turnips in half lengthwise if using baby vegetables. If using larger vegetables, cut into 1-2 inch pieces.

Heat a large saute pan over high heat. Add the olive oil and turnips, cut side down. Saute for about 4 minutes, or until turnips are browned. Add the carrots and chicken stock. Cook until the chicken stock has evaporated and the carrots and turnips are tender; you may need to add a little more liquid. Season with salt and pepper. Add the butter and shallots, and saute for another 7 minutes, or until all the vegetables are tender and caramelized. Toss the vegetables with the gremolata just before serving.

Pork loin with red cabbage

These days when it comes to cooking pork, I automatically lean towards a brine. I know I’m a little slow to jump on the brining bandwagon, but I can’t believe what a difference it makes.

I adapted this recipe for brined pork loin with red cabbage from the Campanile cookbook. The pork is brined in a solution of water, kosher salt, sugar, thyme, peppercorns, cloves and allspice. The pork needs to sit in the brine for about 2 days, so plan ahead.

When I initially read through the recipe, I wasn’t sure about the cabbage part. The ingredients start off fine with cabbage, garlic, balsamic vinegar, caramelized onions. Then comes capers and sage. Capers, sage and red cabbage? That’s a combination that didn’t sound quite right to me. I decided to trust the recipe and go for it, and in the end I was pleasantly surprised with the result.

A word about capers: do you buy brined or salt packed capers? I started buying salt packed capers after reading about them, and they're definitely superior to the brined version. They're slightly more expensive, but have a much better flavor and texture. The only catch is that they need to be rinsed before use.

As expected, the brining process made the pork very flavorful, and the cabbage was a great complement.

Roasted loin of pork with red cabbage
Serves 4 to 6
Adapted from the Campanile cookbook

For the pork:
1/3 cup kosher salt
3 T granulated sugar
2 T black peppercorns, cracked
1 T dried thyme
4 cloves
6 allspice berries, cracked
2 bay leaves
1 boneless pork loin, about 2 1/2 pounds
1 large onion, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch thick round slices
1 T canola oil

For the cabbage:
1 medium head red cabbage, cored, quartered and thinly sliced
1 T olive oil
1 tsp garlic, minced
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
6 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon capers, rinsed and chopped
salt and pepper

Combine two quarts of water with the salt, sugar, peppercorns, thyme, cloves, allspice and bay leaves in a large stockpot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 10 minutes. Remove the stockpot from the heat and transfer the brine to a bowl that's large enough to hold the pork. Cool the brine to room temperature, then refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours. Add the pork to the brine, making sure that it's completely immersed. Refrigerate for 2 days. When ready to roast, remove the meat from the brine and dry with paper towels.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat heat the oil, then brown the pork on all sides. Place the onion slices on the bottom of the skillet and put the browned pork loin on top. Transfer to the oven and roast until a meat thermometer reads 138 degrees in the thickest part of the pork loin, about 25 minutes. Remove the pork from the oven and place on a plate; wrap with foil. Let the pork rest while you prepare the cabbage.

Remove the onions from the skillet and coarsely chop. Heat up the olive oil in a large saute pan on high heat. Add the garlic, cook for one minute and turn heat down to medium. Add the cabbage and saute until the cabbage is wilted, about 6-8 minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar, chopped onions, capers and sage. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To serve, cut the pork loin into 1 1/2 inch thick slices. Place the cabbage on a large platter, arrange the pork on top of the cabbage.

Pork chops with pepperonata

Do you ever get tired of...cooking? It doesn't happen to me very often, but right now I'm in a little bit of a slump. To break out of my rut, I've decided to ditch my cookbooks and grocery lists for a few weeks and just buy whatever appeals to me. On Saturday, I started at the farmer's market for produce, moved on to my local grocery store for meat, and ended at Trader Joe's for staples. Yes, I do shop at multiple grocery stores every week!

I saw these heirloom italian sweet peppers at the farmer's market and bought an assortment of shapes and colors.

I feel lucky that my local grocery store has a great meat counter. It was an easy decision to go with some nice bone-in pork chops. I already had some winter squash in the pantry that needed to be used up, so that became my side dish.

I brined the pork chops for 24 hours before I cooked them. If you've never brined pork chops before, I encourage you to give it a try. It's a little more work, but makes a huge difference with the taste and texture of the meat.

For the pepperonata, I sliced up all the peppers I bought with a few cipollini onions. I sauteed the peppers and onions in olive oil with some salt, black pepper and a healthy pinch of french espelette pepper. I cooked the mixture at medium heat for about 30 minutes. I added a handful of chopped parsley for color.

After the pork chops came out of the brine, I dried them off and sauteed them in a little olive oil until they were cooked through to about medium-well. I topped the pork chops with a generous dollop of pepperonata and served them on a bed of mashed kabocha squash. To make the kabocha squash, I simply microwaved both halves of the squash until tender, scooped out the insides, and mashed it with butter, salt and pepper. This was a great meal - delicious, easy and healthy. It was nice to just do my own thing without having to refer back to instructions in a cookbook. Stay tuned to see what other impromptu meals I come up with!

Cured pork chops with romesco and sweet potatoes

This recipe is from Sunday Suppers at Lucques. This dish is brined pork chops, simply grilled and topped with romesco sauce. I made a large batch of romesco sauce a few weeks back and froze it in smaller portions. This was my first time brining meat - it was really simple and added a lot of flavor and moisture.

In the book, Suzanne Goin suggests serving the pork chops with sweet potatoes tossed with spinach and bacon. The sweet potatoes are peeled, cubed and tossed with a combination of melted brown butter, sage, thyme and brown sugar. The potatoes roast at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes. After the potatoes come out of the oven, they're combined with fresh spinach, crispy bacon, salt and pepper. The combination of brown butter and brown sugar created a caramelized, almost crispy coating on the outside of the potatoes. They were some of the best sweet potatoes I've ever made.

This meal will definitely be repeated around here - I think it would be great for a dinner party.

Braised pork shoulder with quince

As I’ve mentioned before, I enjoy cooking with quinces. To date, I’ve only made recipes that combine quinces with lots of sugar. When I picked up the latest issue of Bon Appetit and saw this recipe for braised pork shoulder with quince, I decided it was time to see how a savory recipe would fare.

This recipe requires some advance planning. The pork is seasoned with a spice blend and needs to sit in the fridge overnight. After the meat is braised, it sits in the fridge for at least another day. The pork is combined with sautéed onions, carrots, celery and quince and braised in a mixture of pomegranate juice and chicken stock. The recipe also calls for red currant jam to add a touch of sweetness. I didn’t feel like buying a jar of jam, so I used equal parts of pomegranate molasses and honey instead.

After about two and a half hours in the oven, the pork was meltingly tender. I removed the quince and vegetables from the braising liquid and strained the liquid into a fat separator. I reduced the braising liquid by about half to make a syrupy sauce for the pork. Quinces are notoriously astringent when raw, which is why they’re mostly used in sweet recipes. The quinces took on a slightly sweet flavor which was a pleasant addition to the dish. Most braises don’t photograph well, and this is no exception. However, this dish definitely makes up for its looks in flavor.

Char siu pork

I love the concept of a slow cooker, but I don't use mine nearly enough. I tried this recipe for char siu pork and was very pleased with the results. My grocery store didn't have any pork butts that were small enough for this recipe, so I used boneless country ribs instead. I marinated the pork overnight in a mixture of hoisin, soy sauce, ginger, garlic, ketchup, honey and five spice. The pork cooked at low heat for about 10 hours. I skipped the sauce making instructions in the recipe because the pork had a lot of flavor already from the marinade, and the liquid left behind in the slow cooker was a little greasy. I served the pork with brown basmati rice and stir fried vegetables.

Everyday Food - pork tenderloin with mustard sauce

This recipe is so simple. Step 1 - cook a pork tenderloin. The recipe says to cook it in the pan, but after I browned all the sides I put the pork in a 400 degree oven. I took it out when the thermometer registered about 147 degrees and let it sit for about 7 minutes. Step 2 - make the sauce. The sauce is made in the same pan that the pork was cooked in - sour cream, dijon mustard and grainy mustard are mixed with the pan drippings. I also added a little salt to the mix. Step 3 - slice pork, top with sauce. I thought this needed a little color, so I added thinly sliced chives at the end. I served the pork with parmesan mashed potatoes and sauteed swiss chard with a splash of balsamic.

Barefoot Contessa Parties - Roast loin of pork with fennel

This recipe is from Barefoot Contessa Parties

This is a great one dish meal. Carrots, potatoes, onions and fennel are cooked along with the mustard crusted pork loin. I used both red and white potatoes. I recommend a meat thermometer to make sure the pork is cooked perfectly at 138 degrees.

Roast loin of pork with fennel