Before blogging my recipes looked like this:
Seriously. This isn't even a recipe. It's a list of ingredients. Pre-Candy Girl, a binder filled with scraps of paper with recipes quickly jotted down, pages ripped from magazines and newspapers, and recipes printed from websites and emails made up my collection of recipes. While I tried to keep it organized it was basically a hot mess.
I still have the big binder but refer to it less and less as many of my family's favorites have made it to the blog where I can easily retrieve them. This recipe for a soy marinated pork tenderloin is one that I haven't made for a while so I dug it up and as soon as this post is written, can toss out.
I suspect most everyone has eaten, if not made, a variation of this recipe. My friend Amy gave it to me years ago and it is always a crowd-pleaser. The beauty of this recipe is in its infinite adaptability to personal taste. For example, I decided that 3/4 cup oil was way too much and reduced it a more reasonable 1/4 cup. I used fresh garlic instead of powdered, but didn't have fresh ginger so I used powered there. A few more tweaks and I made this dish fit my palate and my pantry.
You can also play with the method of preparation. I originally planned on roasting in the oven, but opted for the grill instead. The marinade can be discarded or boiled down and used as a sauce. Like I said, flexibility is the name of the game here.
My husband brought back some homemade peach preserves from South Carolina recently so I heated them up and added that as a final glaze. It was the perfect summer compliment to the pork.
I had forgotten how easy and flavorful this is. I'm glad it will be easier for me to find in the future!
Soy-Ginger Marinated Pork Tenderloin w/Peach Preserves
1 pork tenderloin (you could use this marinade on any cut of pork, chicken, beef, or even lamb)
1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp of ginger (I prefer fresh, but powdered works too)
2 cloves garlic, minced (again, you can use powdered)
3 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp vinegar (I used a cranberry pear vinegar but apple cider, red wine, or balsamic would be great)
juice from half a lemon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
1/2 onion, sliced or chopped
1/4 cup peach preserves (optional)
Trim the pork. I always remove the silver skin from a tenderloin so that it is more tender and holds it shape. Add the meat to a large ziploc bag.
Whisk together the marinade ingredients and pour over the meat. Add the onions. Seal the bag and massage the meat with the marinade. Refrigerate for at least a couple of hours. I threw it in the fridge before I left for work.
Let meat sit for about 1/2 hour at room temperature while grill heats up. If you are roasting, preheat oven to 375 degrees and place meat and marinade in roasting pan. Cook until internal temperature reaches 160 - 165 degrees, about 30 - 40 minutes.
If you are grilling, remove meat from marinade and pat dry. Cook pork over medium-high heat until internal temperature reaches 160 - 165 degrees, about 15 - 20 minutes. Make sure you turn the meat a couple of times to get a nice sear on all sides of the meat.
Tent loosely with foil and let rest for about 10 minutes. If you didn't cook the meat in the marinade, but reserved it, you can boil it in a small saucepan for about 5 minutes. Pour over meat.
If using preserves, heat them in a small saucepan or in the microwave until they are warm and slightly thinned out. Pour glaze over meat and serve.
My husband is always begging me to make pork tenderloin more often so he'll be happy I stumbled upon this recipe today :) It sounds fantastic!
ReplyDeleteMy husband is always begging me to make pork tenderloin more often so he'll be happy I stumbled upon this recipe today :) It sounds fantastic!
ReplyDeleteThis looks really GOOD! You're more organized than me, my recipes are all stuffed in a drawer:-(
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for stopping by to enter my giveaway.