Cuban Glazed Pork Tenderloin and Grilled Fruit Salsa

Sweet, tangy with just the right amount of spice to please the whole family with this dish.  I usually don't love fruit salsas and won't order anything that comes with a sweet salsa in a restaurant, but this one seemed like a great paring, so I gave it a try, I'm glad I did. 

Don't be put off by the Sauce for this dish, I know 4 whole jalapenos sounds extreme, but if anything, I would spice it up more next time I did this dish - - which I know means this is about perfect for most people!  I always seed the jalapenos, and they are almost never too hot that way.  I buy jalapenos by the pound at my local Asian market, and I usually get through them all before they go bad, yep, I love them that much.

I was inspired to do this dish from a recent issue of FOOD & WINE MAGAZINE (June 2011), but the recipe was for ribs, and I had pork tenderloins, which I prefer anyways, but I took some liberties with some of the ingredients too, especially since they wanted to add sugar to fruit salsa... um, I don't think that's necessary!  

Marinated Pork

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

1/4 cup chile powder

2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 Tbsp garlic, powdered
1-2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp honey

1 tsp Kosher salt & ground pepper

2 pork tenderloins (about 4 lbs total)

Sauce

4 jalapeños, seeded and thinly sliced

8 garlic cloves, smashed

1/2 cup fresh lime juice

1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon ground cumin

Grilled Fruit Salsa

1 lb fresh pineapple rings, 1/2 " slices
1 fresh mango, cut into wedges
1/2 red onion, 1/2 " slices
1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced

1 large avocado, diced
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 tsp cumin
Salt & Pepper as desired





In a large ziploc bag, add the chili powder, cumin, granulated garlic, salt, honey and olive oil.  Add the pork tenderloins and "massage" the mixture onto all the sides of the pork.  Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or even overnight, which is what I did.

Meanwhile, in a blender, puree the jalapeños with the garlic and 1/2 cup of the lime juice. Blend in the honey and the remaining 1 tablespoon of cumin. Transfer the glaze to a saucepan and simmer over low heat until glossy and thickened, 15 minutes.  Remove half the glaze to use for basting the cooking meat, and the other half of the glaze in a small pitcher to serve with the dinner. 

Preheat the grill.

When hot, grill the pineapple rings, mango wedges and red onion slices over high heat, turning once, until lightly charred, about 5 minutes. Chop all the grilled fruits and onion into a dice and transfer to a bowl. Add jalapeno, cilantro, avocado and 2 tablespoons of lime juice. Season with salt and pepper.  Set aside to cool while you cook the pork.

Turn down the grill to medium, and try to keep the temperature between 350-400 in the grill.  Place the pork and cover and cook, basting each side with the jalapeno glaze as you turn it, because the glaze can burn! It should take about 20 minutes or so.  

Internal temperature of pork should be about 145 degrees if you want to check it with an instant thermometer. The Pork Council just updated their recommended temperates, so many of you may remember it used to be 160.  Let it rest for about 5-8 minutes before serving.  The residual heat will continue to cook the pork and you won't over cook it and dry it out.

Slice the pork and serve with the salsa and the sauce.  Great with rice or quinoa.
This would also be great on tacos or burritos.... oh yum.

Note-
Even if you didn't make the glaze or the salsa, this marinade for the pork was pretty slam dunkin' marvelous... I'm going to try it out on a beef flank steak soom

Pina Colada Bread Pudding with Rum Caramel Sauce

Yum, I love bread pudding.  It's funny to me that everyone thinks it's such a great dessert to order when you go out, because to me, bread pudding really says breakfast! It's got all the great breakfast components that French Toast has, so really keep your options OPEN and don't banish this dish to dessert only!!!

My Mom used to make this stuff all the time, we loved it, even though now I know she was using up all that old bread! That's OK, I really like this stuff.  I find myself throwing bread bits and pieces into the freezer in a ziploc bag all the time, for things like this, or a savory Spinach & Feta Strata. If you don't have any stale bread, you can cut cubes out of a fresh loaf of bread and dry it out in the oven for 15 minutes or so at 350 degrees.

Here's my trick for figuring out how much bread cubes you need.... take the dish that you are going to use and FILL it over the top.  I mean heaping over the top, there's nothing worse that a flat little bread pudding- do it like you mean it! It condenses down a whole bunch once you soak it in the egg/liquid mixture. 

Serves about 6-8, 8x8 dish
Ingredients
12 cups bread cubes, cubed
1 can light coconut milk
1 cup half and half, or cream
1 cup (8 oz. can) crushed pineapple, with juice
1 cup coconut, sweetened, flaked (optional, I left it out of the recipe, just sprinkled the top)
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark rum, or coconut rum
1 tsp almond extract
4 eggs

In a very large bowl, beat up the eggs, coconut milk, cream (half & half or milk works too), sugar and rum.  Beat until well mixed.  Add in crushed pineapple (and coconut if using), and then toss in bread cubes, mixing well.  Add back to a buttered 8x8 baking dish and cover.  Refrigerate for a couple hours, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Bake on a baking sheet (no spills in your oven...) at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. I baked mine uncovered, and it did not get too brown or dried out. In the last 5 minutes, sprinkle with a couple tablespoons of brown sugar and coconut flakes.
Serve warm, or even room temperature.

Rum Caramel Sauce
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2-3 Tbsp dark rum, or coconut rum (optional)
1/2 cup cream

Over medium high heat, melt the butter and the brown sugar together, adding the rum and then the cream.  Cook at a rolling boil for about 5 minutes as it bubbles and thickens.  Pour over the bread pudding and serve... remind people that the caramel sauce is molten if you serve it right away after the sauce is done.