(This assumes you are using about 2 lbs. pork tenderloin.)
Dry Rub
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 2 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, chopped very fine
- 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped very fine
- 1 tablespoon fresh orange peel, grated or chopped very fine
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Crush garlic and salt together in a mortar or with the side of a large knife on a chopping board; mix in other ingredients to form a dry marinade. Brush tenderloins with about 1 tablespoon olive oil each and then spread the dry rub evenly over the meat with your fingers or a spatula. Place tenderloins in a non-reactive pan and pour the marinade (recipe follows) over them; let sit at room temperature up to one hour or marinate in refrigerator at least 2 hours or overnight. Grill tenderloins as you normally would, brushing the pork with any marinade left in the pan. Slice about ¼ inch thick on the diagonal for serving. This should serve 4–6 people depending on weight of pork.
Marinade
Add to the juice of one large juice orange or two small (approximately 1/3 cup) enough fresh lemon juice to make ½ cup liquid; add 2 tablespoons honey; l large or 2 small garlic cloves, finely chopped; 2 tablespoons chopped, fresh rosemary; 1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger; ½ teaspoon salt; and ½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper and mix well. With a whisk or in a blender, slowly add ½ cup olive or canola oil to create a good emulsion. Pour over meat.
Pasta and Green Bean Salad with Orange and Honey Dressing
For salad, combine gently in a large bowl:
- 8 ounces pasta bows, cooked, drained and cooled
- ½ lb Roma green beans (the flat ones), cut or broken into 1-inch pieces and blanched
- 1 medium fennel bulb, chopped
- ½ large sweet onion, chopped
- 1 small sweet red pepper, chopped
- 1 cup fresh, cooked corn kernels
Dressing
If you are making the salad to serve with the pork, make double the recipe for the marinade and reserve ½ of it for the dressing. Do not use leftover marinade for the dressing.
Pour dressing over the salad ingredients and mix gently. Serve soon as citrus will discolor the green beans over time. Serves 4–6 as a side dish.
Personal Note: I actually created the salad recipe in order to utilize leftover pork tenderloin that I already had on hand and which I then added to the salad to serve as a one-dish meal. I didn’t write down any of the measurements as I went along; I just tasted. So what you read here is a re-creation that may not taste exactly as it did the first time. But that is what cooking is all about, and you may adjust any of the ingredient measurements, add or subtract ingredients, or make more or less as you like to end up with something your family will enjoy. The idea here is to do a little creating yourself!
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