Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Vegetable Curry

Maybe you love curry. Maybe you don't. Even if you don't, I bet you'll like this curry. Regardless, it's a great recipe. And good for you, what with all the kale and sweet potatoes in it.

But before we begin, I gotta talk a bit about how I'm a really efficient cook. Like, I read through the recipe and figure out how much I gotta chop first before I can start cooking. I consolidate pots and pans, I wash the collander while the water's boiling. I'm good.

So let me help you out here. You're gonna need to chop and measure all of the ingredients up to the lime juice. There's a lot of fine chopping and mincing in there, and things are cooked in rapid succession until you get to the lime juice. Also, the ginger, garlic, jalapeno and scallion can go in one bowl, sweet potatoes and bell pepper in the second bowl, zucchini in the third bowl. You can reuse those bowls for the kale, because you can destem the kale during the 20-minute simmering in step 2. You can also chop up the cilantro then too, and start the grill and cook the pork.

And! The coconut water and sour cream are used to cut calories. But the thought of having to halve and drain god knows how many coconuts to get 2 cups of coconut water filled me with dread. So I just bought 2 cans of coconut milk and called it a day. I also used way more sweet potatoes, so I needed the extra milk to portion it. Also, I used Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, because I like the tang.

OK, now for the recipe.

Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Vegetable Curry
from Food & Wine

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon minced jalapeño
• 2 tablespoons minced scallion, plus 2 tablespoons thinly sliced scallion
• 1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips
• 1 small sweet potato (about 5 ounces), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced crosswise 1/2 inch thick
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste
• 2 cups pure coconut water
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• 2 cups coarsely shredded stemmed kale
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• 2 tablespoons full-fat sour cream
• 4 center-cut pork tenderloin medallions (about 4 ounces each), pounded to a 1-inch thickness

Directions

1. In a large, deep skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil. Add the ginger, garlic, jalapeño and minced scallion and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until fragrant, 3 minutes. Add the bell pepper and sweet potato, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until barely softened, 3 minutes. Add the zucchini and curry paste and stir to coat the vegetables with the curry.
2. Add the coconut water and lime juice and simmer over moderate heat until the sweet potatoes are nearly tender and the liquid is reduced by half, about 20 minutes. Stir in the kale and cilantro and cook just until the kale is wilted. Add the sour cream and season with salt and pepper.
3. Light a grill or preheat a grill pan. Rub the pork with the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of oil and season with salt and pepper; grill over moderate heat, turning, until cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes. Let the pork rest for 5 minutes, then slice and arrange on plates with the vegetable curry alongside. Garnish with the sliced scallions and serve.

Notes

One Serving 310 cal, 13 gm fat, 2.5 gm sat fat, 20 gm carb, 5 gm fiber, 28 gm protein, 590 mg sodium.

Gingerbread Molasses Cake with Mascarpone Cream

As much as I love pie, I don't seem to make a lot of it. I mostly stick to things like tarts and cobblers and crumbles, things with lots of fruit in them. Things that you can screw up and still rescue.

Cakes though - cakes scare me. You have to be precise and whip things and cut things and gah! Scary! I'm not a precise measurer, and you have to measure precisely with cakes.

On Saturday, we went to a wine party and everyone was asked to bring a dessert. So I looked through our recent food magazines (Bon Appetit and Food & Wine) for an easy dessert. I found this one, which wasn't too complicated.

First, you make the cake. Pretty simple.

Then, you make the orange confit, which is decorative. Honestly, I think the cake is fine without the confit. I didn't cook this as long as it said to (only 20 minutes) because the syrup began to thicken. The confit was crusted with syrup and I had to rinse it off. So, you can do without it, I say. This is the water and sugar getting angry before it simmered down and became thick syrup.

Here's the cake baking. It rose dramatically and then fell in the center.


Here's the finished product. My handheld mixer burned out, so I whipped the cream by hand. Didn't take long. I smoothed out the dip in the center with the magic of cream. I also added about three times as much orange zest to the cream because it tasted like plain cream to me. I wanted it to be zestier.

All in all, pretty good. The cake was a little dry, even though I took it out about 10 minutes before. The icing melted a little on the drive over to the party, but this is San Antonio, where everything is crazy hot. Can't be helped.

Enjoy!

Cake

(from Food and Wine)

1. 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2. 1 3/4 teaspoons ground ginger
3. 1 teaspoon cinnamon
4. 1 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
5. 1/2 teaspoon salt
6. 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons canola oil
7. 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
8. 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons molasses
9. 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons honey
10. 2 eggs
11. 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
12. 3/4 cup boiling water

Orange Confit

1. 1 orange, zest peeled with a vegetable peeler and sliced lengthwise into 1/8-inch strips
2. 4 cups water
3. 1/2 cup sugar

Mascarpone Cream

1. 1 cup mascarpone, at room temperature
2. 3/4 cup heavy cream
3. 3/4 teaspoon finely grated orange zest
4. 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
5. Pinch of salt

Directions

1. Make the Cake: Preheat the oven to 350°. Spray a 9-inch square baking pan with vegetable cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine the flour with the ground ginger, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk the canola oil with the brown sugar, molasses, honey, eggs and lemon zest until smooth. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until combined. Whisk in the boiling water. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 1 hour and 10 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Set the pan on a rack and let the cake cool completely, about 2 hours.
2. Meanwhile, Make the Orange Confit: In a medium saucepan, combine the strips of orange zest with the water and sugar. Bring to a boil and cook over high heat until syrupy and the orange zest is soft, about 30 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the orange confit to a plate; discard the syrup.
3. Make the Mascarpone Cream: In a large bowl, using an electric mixer at medium speed, beat the mascarpone with the cream, orange zest, confectioners’ sugar and salt until soft peaks form.
4. Cut the molasses-gingerbread cake into squares and transfer to plates. Dollop the mascarpone cream on top, garnish with the orange confit and serve.