Eh!!

The other night I made Mango-Cucumber Salsa and a Guava Marinated Pork Chop.  It didn't turn out quite as I had hoped, my reaction was Eh!  My husband's was the same, in fact he gave this meal my lowest score yet, 2.5 asparagus stalks.  His biggest complaint was the toughness of the meat.  We won't point out to him that he actually did the cooking as far as the pork goes (ha,ha). He also thought the flavor of the marinade was not strong enough. 

I do think there are just a few tweaks that need to be made to the dish to make it a good meal.  One thing I would do next time is let the pork marinade longer and secondly I would not cook the pork in a grill pan on the top of the stove.  My original intent was to grill the pork chops on the grill however it was pouring down rain when we were trying to cook so we had to come up with a plan B.  I think plan B should have been baking it in the oven.  The issue with the grill pan was the guava glaze started to burn and the meat got a little tough because it took so long to cook through.

Mango-Cucumber Salsa
In a bowl combine the following ingredients:
2/3 cup of diced mango
2/3 cup of diced cucmber
2/3 cup of diced red onion
1/3 cup of diced red bell pepper
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
1/4 cup of diced green bell pepper
1 tomato diced
Chopped Cilantro
Salt

I think its a good idea to make this a little ahead of time so that it has time to incorporate some of the flavors
Guava Glazed Pork Chop
I used bonless center cut pork chops
1 cup Jumex Guava nectar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon hoisin sauce
Salt and Pepper

Combine all of the ingredients in a ziplock bag and add pork chops.  Let the pork marinade for at least 3 hours.
When you are ready to cook I would say the preferred method would be to grill the pork until done.
If you want to brush the pork with a little of the marinade while it is grilling be sure to reserve a bit before you add the meat to the ziplock bag.

I will have to try this one again to redeem myself. :)

Pork Tenderloin with Hula Girl Coffee Rub

Menu:
Pork Tenderloin with Mango Salsa
Island Teriyaki Udon Noodles and Vegetables






Recipe:

Pork Tenderloin
Lightly cover bottom of oven safe dish with olive oil
Generously cover pork tenderloin with Hula Girl Coffee Rub. I used 1/8 cup of the rub. The tenderloin I used was 1.5-1.75 lbs.  I started cooking the tenderloin on 350 degrees but turned the oven up to 375 towards the end to try to get a bit of a crust on the pork.

Mango Salsa
2/3 cup frozen Mango chunks, defrosted (diced)
1/2 large jalapeno pepper (diced)
2 slices of red pepper (diced) - approximately 1/4 cup

1/4 cup red onion (diced)

6 cilantro leaves chopped
 (I would add a little more cilantro next time around. Unfortunately my cilantro plant looked quite sad so this was all of the cilantro I had)




Island Teriyaki Udon Noodles and Vegetables
1/2 Red and Yellow Pepper (sliced)
4 large button mushrooms (sliced)
Remainder of the red onion used in the salsa (sliced into chunks) - approximately 1 medium red onion
a bit of chopped ginger root (approximately 1 tablespoon)
1 3/4 cup of bok choy (chopped)
5 baby carrots (sliced)

Cook above (reserve the green parts of bok choy until the end) in 2 tablespoons of Toasted Sesame Oil.  After a few minutes of cooking at 1/4 cup of Soy Vay Island Teriyaki.  Continue cooking on low. Add a dash of kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper. I prefer to keep a bit of crunch to my vegetables.

In a separate pot cook Udon noodles as directed.  I used Koyo Organic Udon Asian Pasta.  The package comes with 3 separately wrapped bundles of noodles. I used 2 of the 3 in my recipe.  Once your noodles are finished drain them and add them back to the pot you cooked them in with 1/4 cup of the Island Teriyaki.  Stir to cover the noodles. At the same time add the green parts of the bok choy to finish up the vegetables.

Combine noodles and vegetables in a serving dish. Sprinkle with Sesame seeds.

Slice pork tenderloin and serve with Mango Salsa.







Next time around I would probably sear the pork tenderloin first before putting it in the oven to get a nice crust on it.  My other option would be to grill it which was my original intent. I realize these are probably not the best directions for making this dish. I tried to write it down as I was cooking but I will try to do better with documenting next time around. 

From a timing perspective this took me about an hour and twenty minutes total to make. That included prepping vegetables and plating the dishes and quick break to entertain the baby.

If anyone tries this dish I would love to hear your comments.