Spicy Ginger Lime Pork Tenderloin

I was talking with a blogging friend of mine yesterday, comparing future posts. When I mentioned I would be using this recipe I came up with for a grilled pork tenderloin, her response to me was “is there anything you can’t cook?”. Being a woman with the brain cells of an eggplant, I wasn’t sure what she meant and asked. Her response (Beyond “Duh Janet”) was that I ran what I called a baking blog but I didn’t  do just baking posts and certainly didn’t seem to be a food blogger who knew how to cook one type of food and that was it.

My response? That yes, there were things I can’t cook. I make a truly atrocious dish of boxed mac and cheese. I am utterly incapable of following the directions on the box and always end up with either a soupy or a gritty mess. Though how one makes something with a gritty powder into something that ISN’T a mess is beyond me anyway :-P. My husband, who can’t cook a lick, manages fine however. Go figure. I also am horrid at decorating layer cakes. I can make a homemade cake with the best of ’em but when it comes to decorating/frosting it, I am fairly sure that my 4 year old son could do better.

I also reminded her that I have six kids (though admittedly, three are grown and married) and that at one point in my life, I was cooking for 5 kids, three of them teens and a husband. When doing that, you learn to make a variety of things sheerly out of self defense. I was scared that if I didn’t have a constant supply of food ready, they would turn on me and I would wake one night to find my legs being salted and peppered, and two teen boys and a girl along with two little boys standing over me with napkins around their necks.

So I cook. Many different things. Not just baking, though that is the favored thing in a house that still has two teen boys (the ones who were little in the above mentioning), a 4 year old and a husband. Not to mention, at the moment, 2 stepkids, my daughter and three of my grandkids. yeah, baking is a definite favorite.

But this pork loin went over well too. When the mongrel hordes settled down, there was less than one loin left out of four. I think they liked it. I don’t blame them. It WAS pretty awesome. 😀

I had been trying to figure out for a few days what I wanted to do with this pork loin and I finally got fed up waiting for an idea to pop into my head and just went to the cabinets and fridge and starting pulling things out. I tend to do some of my best cooking that way actually; when I stop trying to do things by a recipe and just…cook. This spicy, but not too much so, a little bit sweet, tangy and with the perfect balance of saltiness. All in all, just yummy. And you can’t get much easier than combine some ingredients, put the meat in them, marinate and cook.

You know the drill….

Spicy Ginger Lime Thai Pork Tenderloin

• 1 package (about 3 pounds) pork tenderloin (tenderloin, not just regular loin)
• 1 bottle Kens Lite Asian Sesame With Ginger And Soy
• zest and juice from one lime
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 cup Thai sweet chili sauce
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 3 tablespoons red curry paste
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Nam Pla (fish sauce, and don’t worry, it doesn’t taste fishy at all… think of it as a strange version of soy sauce if it makes you happy)
• 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
• 1/3 cup dark brown sugar

1. In a large bowl or 2 gallon ziploc bag, combine all ingredients other than the pork. Stir well to combine or if in the bag, close the bag and squeeze it to mix ingredients. Take out one cup to use as a basting sauce then add the pork to the remainder of the marinade.
2. Marinate in the fridge (I suggest setting the bag into a bowl to be safe in case the bag leaks) for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
3. When ready to cook,  preheat grill to medium hot.  Your coals should be totally covered in gray and you shouldn’t be able to hold your hand close to them for more than three or four seconds before you have to pull away.
4. Oil your grill grate by brushing it with a bbq brush that has been dipped in oil.
5. Place the pork directly over the hot area. Cook the pork until an instant read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of one of the loins registers about 145 degrees. Turn a few times during cooking, basting each time with the reserved marinade.
6. Transfer to a platter, cover with foil and let rest for ten minutes before slicing.
7. If you want to serve this with what sauce is left, make sure you bring the remaining sauce to a boil first to prevent cross contamination.

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