Cranberry Glazed Pork Skewers + Small Plate Giveaway

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...This is the last of the Sponsored posts I've written on behalf of the National Pork Board. The board recently conducted a survey to identify food trends that are appealing to American cooks this holiday season. They found six recurring themes for their 2011 Pork's Perfect Paring's guide and asked cookbook author Jill Silverman Hough to develop a pork recipe to go with each of them. They also asked some members of the blogging community to provide recipes and holiday ideas for each of the themes they were highlighting. I focused my attention on the Smitten with Small Plates category and for the last three days I've featured pork dishes that work well as appetizers or small plate meals.

I think you'll all enjoy the recipes I'm featuring and the National Pork Board has a Small Plates gift set waiting for one of you. The gift set includes: $25 worth of pork coupons; Jill Silverman Hough cookbooks, including 100 Perfect Pairings: Main Dishes to Enjoy with the Wines You Love and 100 Perfect Pairings: Small Plates to Enjoy with the Wines You Love; an instant-read digital thermometer; tapas-style small plates and decorative skewers for holiday appetizers. If you'd like a chance to win, simply comment on one, or all three, of the recipes that are part of this promotion. Everyone can enter up to three entries to the drawing. The winner, chosen by a random number drawing, will be announced on Saturday, December 17th. Good luck! While I have received a similar gift package, the opinions in this post are 100% mine.



I decided to use pork tenderloin for the last of the dishes I wanted to make for this promotion. Pork skewers make great finger food and I thought the tenderloin could be made more festive with a cranberry glaze that would add some sweetness and seasonal color to the dish. I also wanted to brighten the final flavor, so I finished the skewers with an orange and cilantro gremolata that worked especially well with the cranberry glaze. These skewers are very easy to make. I hope you will give them a try. Here's the recipe.




Cranberry Glazed Pork Skewers with Cilantro and Orange Gremolata...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
Marinade and Sauce:
1 cup cranberry juice
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons dried cranberries, divided use
1/2 cup thick teriyaki sauce
2 teaspoons Asian-style hot chili sauce (i.e. Sriracha)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 cup + 1 teaspoon lime juice, divided use
Gremolata:
2 tablespoons finely chopped orange zest
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
4 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
Pork:
1 (12 to 16-oz.) pork tenderloin
24 bamboo skewers soaked in water for 30 minutes

Directions:
1) Trim pork tenderloin and remove silver skin. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cut tenderloin lengthwise into four long pieces each about 1/2 inch thick. Flatten slightly, then cut each strip in half lengthwise. Cut each long strip crosswise into three pieces, each of which will be 3-1/2 to 4-inches long. You should end up with 24 pieces of pork.
2) To make marinade and sauce: Place juice, 1/2 cup dried cranberries, teriyaki sauce, hot chili sauce, salt, cornstarch and 1 teaspoon lime juice in jar of an electric blender. Puree. Place 1/2 cup sauce, reserved 1/4 cup lime juice and pork in a medium bowl, turning pork strips to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, place reserved 1 cup sauce in a small saucepan; bring to a boil over medium heat and stir until slightly thick and shiny, about 5 minutes.
3) To prepare gremolata: Finely chop reserved 2 tablespoons dried cranberries. Place cranberries, orange zest, garlic and cilantro in a small bowl. Toss to combine. Set aside.
4) To cook pork: Preheat oven broiler element. Thread 1 pork strip on each bamboo skewer and baste lightly with cranberry glaze. Place on a pan and broil skewers 6 inches from heat for 6 to 8 minutes, turning and glazing once.
5) To serve: Sprinkle pork with gremolata and sea salt, if using. Transfer skewers to individual serving plates. Yield: About 24 skewers.

Cook's Note: Be sure to sprinkle each pork skewer with gremolata. It is a necessary component of this dish.








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Pork Tenderloin Baked in a Salt Crust - March Recipes to Rival

Browned Roast Set on a Bed of Salt



Roast Buried in Salt



Tenderloin After Roasting and Removal of Salt Crust



Plated Pork Tenderloin

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...It's time for the March challenge at Recipes to Rival. This month's challenge, chosen by Temperama of High on the Hog, was roasting a whole fish in a salt crust. She gave us the option of using another protein for the exercise and that's what I decided to do. Bob and I had our first sampling of salt crusted meat in China. Once home, I learned how to roast a whole salt crusted chicken that was a reasonable facsimile of what we had eaten in Asia. I first thought I'd use that for this month's challenge but there were a couple of drawbacks. It was neither quick nor easy to do and Bob pointed out that it had absolutely no color and was singularly unattractive. He also reminded me of the burns I received from the hot salt. I remembered a recipe that I'd seen and clipped for a pork tenderloin that was roasted in a salt crust, but, of course, couldn't find it. Google to the rescue. I found another recipe in an article written by Ezra Klein for The American Prospect and decided to use it for the challenge. The recipe originally appeared in the L.A. Times. The procedure is quite simple and, if you're the least bit adventurous, I urge you to give it a try. While I think the merits of salt crusted roasting are overrated, that doesn't mean it shouldn't be tried. So, if you have time and an obscene amount of salt, I urge you to expand your cooking repertoire. You won't hate the finished product. There are basically three ways to salt roast. Loose salt is most often used with vegetables and shellfish. Shellfish are buried in already hot salt, while vegetables will have salt poured over them. Another method combines salt with water to produce a mixture that looks like wet sand. The "sand" is packed by handfuls over whatever is being roasted. Salt can also be mixed with egg whites before roasting. Some think the egg whites make the "whatever" roast less salty. Interestingly, none of these methods produce something that is unbearably salty, but you'll have to be the final judge of that. Here's the recipe for salt crusted pork tenderloin. Enjoy!

Pork Tenderloin Baked in a Salt Crust...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, courtesy of Ezra Klein and the L.A. Times

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons snipped rosemary leaves
6 cups coarse salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 (1 1/4 -pound) pork tenderloin
1 pound fingerling potatoes, scrubbed but unpeeled
1 tablespoon butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon minced shallots

Directions:
1) Heat oven to 400 degrees. Combine rosemary and salt in a large mixing bowl and stir in 1 cup of water. Mix until texture is like gritty snow or sand.
2) In a large skillet, heat oil until it shimmers. Pat pork tenderloin dry with paper towels and sear it in hot oil until it is browned on all sides, about 8 minutes.
3) While pork is browning, spoon a layer of salt about one-fourth-inch thick in bottom of a gratin or baking dish just big enough to hold pork and potatoes in a single layer.
4) When pork is browned, pat it dry with a paper towel to remove any excess oil and place it in center of gratin dish. Arrange potatoes around the outside and cover everything with remaining salt.
5) Roast until pork reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees, about 20 to 25 minutes. At this point, pork will be quite moist but still a little pink. If you prefer pork to be more cooked, push temperature to 150, about 5 more minutes. Remove baking dish from the oven and let set 5 minutes to finish cooking.
6) With a sturdy metal spoon or chef's knife, chip a crack around base of salt crust and carefully lift off top. Use a dry pastry brush to brush away any salt on surface of potatoes or pork, turning pork over to brush all sides. Transfer pork to a carving board. Slice pork into medallions one-fourth-inch thick and arrange on a serving platter. Place potatoes in a medium bowl and toss with the shallots and butter just until coated, discarding any excess butter. Arrange potatoes around outside of pork and serve immediately. Yield: 3 to 4 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:

Tuscan Herb Roasted Chicken - One Perfect Bite
Chipotle Marinated Pork Tenderloin - One Perfect Bite
Roast Pork with Raspberry Balsamic Glaze - One Perfect Bite