Pork Tenderloin with Mango Salsa

Another weeknight, another excuse to grill. Jay and Kate came over again with teriyaki marinated pork tenderloin. As the purveyor of the sides, we tried to keep in tune with the flavor profile. But I shot down fried rice as just too blase and not in keeping with the exuberance we were feeling about the wonderful weather. We did end up keeping the same idea, but with more seasonal elements-- jasmine rice and a mango salsa.

For the mango salsa, the Boy chopped one mango, a tomato, a small onion, a half-can of black beans, some fresh cilantro, and some jicama (left over from the last grilling post). He threw in ginger paste, Sriracha, lime juice, fresh ground pepper and a pinch of salt.

Just threw that over the rice and it paired perfectly with the tenderloin, which was super-moist. Jay's ability to cook meats to the appropriate amount of doneness continues to amaze and delight. Especially when my meat thermometer was giving crazy 300 degree readings...

Oh and that brown blob is leftover peanut sauce (how leftover, you don't want to know).

Dinner on the Grill

In the past few weeks (now that it's officially Spring) we have attempted to use the grill to make every last dinner. I'm close to being on cholesterol overload, but we managed to rally again last night after Jay and Kate came bearing gifts of marinated steaks! We're doing this in the name of warm weather!

I also played my now-nightly game of going to Wegmans to figure out what else to make, usually following the Boy's vision, gleaned from watching 8 straight hours of Food Network. This time he came up with jicama slaw and curry potatoes cooking in foil packets on the grill.

For the slaw, I peeled and julienned (well, I cut them much chunkier, but that's because I'm lazy and take little pride in my work) one jicama. Jicama is a "Mexican potato" that tastes like a cross between raw potato and red cabbage, but with the texture of an apple. I added in about a cup and a half of grated red cabbage (which I bought prepackaged-- see above), one diced Granny Smith apple, one diced jalapeno (you'll probably want to take some or all of the seeds out), and some chopped fresh cilantro. Dress with mustard, lime juice, apple cider vinegar, and olive oil. I threw in some cumin and nutmeg for good measure. The slaw was super hot when you hit on the jalapeno seeds, but otherwise just very fresh. I still kind of want to try it with a more tropical fruit, or some orange zest or honey. I like a hot afterburn, but with a sweet finish.

The curry potatoes were your standard potatoes and onions grilled in a foil packet, but kicked up about seventeen notches. The Boy mixed the dry curry spices (turmeric, coriander, red pepper, and curry), then added in olive oil and coated quartered red potatoes and sliced onions. This was all dumped into a very sizable foil packet, and put on the grill on medium heat. I had my doubts about the cooking time since this shoebox-sized packet was full of potatoes, which take forever. But I should have had faith in the culinary genius of the Boy, because the cooked quicker than I thought and came out wonderfully soft, with perfectly charred onion bits, and intense curry flavor.

As for the steak, I have no idea what it was marinated in, but Jay used my Gordon Ramsey test for doneness, and they tasted fantastic, even if he had to rescue one from death-by-grease-fire. We finished all this deliciousness off with basil lime iced tea and brownies with ice cream. Here's Jay with his O-face of Approval.