After Sunday’s meal on the grill I have just been dying to get out there again. When the rain stopped this afternoon I was even more excited for dinner, the grill just opens up so many flavors and cooking techniques. Tonight we grilled two pork tenderloins (after they relaxed in a marinade for a bit) and topped them off with a refreshing twist on a Gremolata.
To begin with tonight’s dinner I needed to get the tenderloin trimmed and into the marinade: 1 Tablespoon each of ginger preserves, whole grain mustard and apple cider vinegar and 2 Tablespoons of Ben’s Maple Syrup. Ginger preserves are not a common thing and they are quite strong but they are great with pork and to mix a spicy/sweet flavor into marinades. They are with the jams and jellies at the store. Give them a try.
While they are sitting in the marinade you can go ahead and start the Gremolata. A traditional Gremolata is very simple: 1/4 cup of very finely chopped fresh parsley, 3-4 cloves of very finely chopped garlic and the zest of one lemon. It is delicious, refreshing and can really brighten a dish. In the case of tonight’s Gremolata I changed it just slightly.
Start with 1 cup of loosely packed fresh parsley leaves, when very finely chopped this will be about 1/4 of a cup.
You really need to take the time and knife work to get this as finely chopped as you can.
I the very finely chopped 1 clove of garlic. Notice that I used a different board for this. I have a separate board I always use for garlic and onions, just to keep my flavors separate.
I got these two together in a bowl so that I could put the orange zest directly into the same dish. I also have two microplanes, one for fruit only and one for other items such as garlic and cheeses. I place the microplane right over the bowl and add the zest to the party.
The finished project was really quite refreshing.
About a tablespoon of this on top of a few slices of the grilled tenderloin and you have yourself a great meal. Enjoy!
