Grilled Pork Tenderloin al Pastor with Avocado Crema

While working on a hobby project in the basement earlier today (a different post for my main blog), I was watching the Food Network (The Kitchen), and saw a recipe that made me say "that's dinner for tonight."

The recipe was Grilled Pork Tenderloin al Pastor with an avocado crema. Yum. Thanks to Jeff Mauro.

This is a simple recipe (the best kind), with a minimum of ingredients and not a ton of prep work.

The pork tenderloins were marinaded for 2-3 hours in a blender-ed combination of pineapple juice, chipotle chilis in adobo sauce, garlic, salt and achiote paste. As a short cut to the true achiote paste, I used two packets of Goya brand achiote seasoning powder (and the result was terrific).

The avocado crema was blender-ed combination of 1.5 avocados, part of a bunch of cilantro, a half cup or so of sour cream, some salt and pepper, a lime's zest and juice, plus a little water and olive oil to thin it down.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin al Pastor with Avocado Crema

The result was fabulous. I cooked the tenderloins (3 of them) on a 350-ish degree grill for 10 minutes on each side. They rested for ten minutes while we steamed some broccoli.

We served it, as is often the case in our semi-Asian family, with white rice (and a glass of Chardonnay...).

Highly recommended. Complex rich flavors with minimal prep and not too many ingredients. If you can't find achiote powder or paste, you could use salt, pepper and garlic powder and you'd be OK...

Try this, you won't regret it.

Staub Grill Pan

Sometimes a nice little unexpected thing comes along that makes your day. This was one of those.

A few days ago, Amp mentioned that she had been in a Home Goods store and had seen a nice heavy cast iron grill pan that she liked, but it cost something like $50 so she didn't get it. We have been periodically thinking about getting one, since we now have a hood over the stove that can vent properly unlike in the old kitchen. She said it was made by "Steuben, or something like that". I asked if she meant Staub. She said yes, it might have been Staub.

Staub is a very good name manufacturer of cast iron and enameled cookware, much like Le Creuset (the LC dutch oven that we have is my favorite cooking thing). They are high end and expensive. We searched online, found that it was in fact a Staub pan that she had seen, and that it was a current model that was listed on the Williams Sonoma website for $239.

Staub grill pan

She went back the next day, had a choice of red, green or blue (she chose blue), and picked one up for $65. We've already used it a couple times (including the inaugural pork chops above) and love it. It is somewhat non-stick and will season over time, is very heavy so it heats well (and evenly), and does give food that proper grill flavor. Love it!

Barbecue Dry Rub

Tonight will be baby back ribs for the holiday weekend. The barbecue dry rub that I use for this (and for sprinkling on all sorts of other grilled stuff as well) is as follows. I make this in batches and keep it in the pantry for general purpose use. Well sealed it lasts quite a while since all ingredients are dry.

• 1/2 cup roughly equal mix of chipotle chili powder, ancho chili powder and paprika (preferably smoked)
• 2 Tbsp plus 1 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dry mustard
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

This recipe follows Rick Bayless' Hickory House dry rub recipe (p. 80) in the June/July 2004 issue (#76) of Saveur magazine fairly closely, changing a few proportions slightly and adding some mustard powder.

Asian Sirloin of Beef

Asian Sirloin of Beef over Spinach

We made a staple dish in our household again recently, so it's worth noting here. I am a big fan of Jamie Oliver, as I find his recipes to be straightforward, delicious, and very hard to mess up. Between us and our neighbor buddies, we have made many things out of a variety of his cookbooks, and they are almost always infallibly terrific.

The specific recipe in question is "Sirloin of Beef with Bok Choy, Soy Sauce and Ginger" from page 51 of Happy Days with the Naked Chef. In summary, it's an asian sauced steak over a bed of bok choy. We serve it with plain white rice (although around here we serve practically anything and everything with white rice). It's a family favorite that everyone loves and is very simple and quick to make, making it a perfect weeknight dinner. We make the recipe pretty much by the book, generally using a grilled london broil but sometimes real steaks, and generally substituting garlic wilted spinach when good bok choy is not available. Quick, easy, and delicious. Over the last couple of years, it's probably been one of our most frequently made recipes.

Work - Very low. Mincing a chili pepper and grating some fresh ginger. That's about it.
Time - Under a half hour, with no prep-ahead needed. You need to grill/broil the beef and do a tiny bit of chopping and mixing for the sauce. The sauce can be made while the beef grills. The veggie can be wilted while the meat rests.
Cleanup - Very little, because you aren't using many items. If you can grill the meat outside (as is preferable), even better.
Rating - 8 out of 10 for taste and simplicity. A true go-to recipe.

Whole Red Snapper

With my wife's sister and her family in to stay with us for Memorial Day weekend, we decided to try something that they have been wanting to do for a while; cooking a whole fish. This is a common thing in the Philippines, but not as much so here. I've eaten whole fish, but never cooked one myself (at least anything larger than a trout).

Prepped and ready for the grill

I bought a 4.5 pound red snapper from Whole Foods, and had them clean it, scale it and remove the fins. Prepping it was easy since it was already cleaned. All I did was slip a knife between the filet and the backbone on one side to enlarge the cavity, and then stuffed it with lemon slices, leeks, and fresh dill sprigs. I tied it with butchers twine to hold it together and placed it directly on the grill. The grill was at about 400F, and all I did was oil the bars, lightly oil the outside of the fish, and sprinkle with kosher salt. The fishmonger said the skin was tough enough to hold up to the direct grilling, so there was no need for foil or anything. After 15 minutes, I rolled it over. After another 15 minutes I pulled it off the grill after checking that the flesh on the inside was opaque and flaky.

On the table

We served it by simply placing it on a platter, drizzling a little basil infused olive oil over it, and then let people dig in. It was so tender and juicy that chunks fell off easily and you could just scoop portions out with a fork and serving spoon. Red snapper is a very mild white fish, and would be a good thing to serve to people who are not hard-core seafood eaters.

Ravaged...

It was absolutely delicious, very very easy, and as you can see, there were no leftovers. One 4.5 pound red snapper fed four adults and a couple of children.

Work involved - stuff, tie, grill, eat. As easy as that.
Time - 10 minutes to prep, 30 minutes to cook.
Cleanup - Super easy. A cutting board and a knife, or if you can work on the fish wrapper, only a knife.
Rating - 9 out of 10. Simple seasoning highlights the delicate flavor of the fish, and that coupled with the almost non-existent prep and cleanup effort makes this a huge winner.