Pork Tenderloin with Glazed Oranges

This is a Father's Day post in honor of Dan, Henry's Dad, who first made this for me.  The book from which this recipe comes, Vij's at Home, was a gift from Alex and Dan,  written by the owner of one of their favorite Indian restaurants.  When Dan made this I prepped for him and was amazed at the quantity of cayenne peper in the marinade.  The resulting pork (served without oranges) was delicious.  The first time I made this, however, it was a disaster.  I scaled the marinade ingredients to my 1 pound piece of pork tenderloin and made a full recipe of the orange glaze. I'm not sure what happened, maybe my cayenne pepper was much hottter than Dan's. Hot for me and too hot for Chris and Ed. I liked the concept though; the oranges, pimenton and pepper reminded me of one of my favorite recipes, Spicy Orange Shrimp. So I tried again, using chili powder instead of cayenne pepper.  (Vij uses 1 T each of cayenne peper and paprika for a 2 1/2 pound tenderloin, and 1 T salt which I omit).  Also, while Vig cuts the 2 1/2  pounds of pork into 24 pieces, Dan and I roast/grill the tenderloin whole and then slice.

The orange glaze is the full recipe (for 2 1/2 pounds of pork).  I have yet to make the full meal suggested in this cookbook: tenderloin and oranges served over spinach and split pea mash, topped with cumin curry and garnished with pistachios and dates, but it is on my to do list....

Make the marinade for a 1 pound pork tenderloin by mixing together:

3 T olive oil
1 1/2 t paprika or pimenton
1 1/2 t chili powder
1 1/2 t garlic, finely chopped

Put the meat in the marinade and coat all sides. marinate for at least 3 hours, turning several times.

Make the orange glaze: in a medium sauce pan

1T butter (I've substituted olive oil but it's not as good)
5 whole cloves
1/4  t chili powder (Vig uses cayenne pepper)
3 T brown sugar  (Vig also suggests demerara or honey)
1/ 2 c orange juice (Vig uses mango juice)

Over medium heat, bring to a slight boil while stirring.

Add

1 large organic naval orange, unpeeled sliced in 1/4 inch rounds

Bring to a light boil, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Meanwhile grill pork to internal temperature of 150 degrees F.

Slice and top meat with oranges, either whole or, my preference, cut in quarters.











Reviewed 6/13/2017

Mother's Day Spider Plants

While this blog is about food, it's roots are in family recipes and family holiday traditions, mostly food but occasionally plants make it into the mix. Mother's Day is more about plants than food. The earliest Mother's Day plant I can remember is a tiny spider plant that Alexandra brought home from Mrs. (Lee) Brown's nursery school class. Three years later Christopher, then in Mrs. Brown's class, brough me a similar plant in a similar small paper cup. Somewhere in between came the Viburnum Tree (orchestrated by Ed) that we all planted together and still blooms in our yard each spring.

While these plants share the longevity prize, the spider plants are hands down winners of the profileration prize.  After having had many more, I'm down to three large spider plants in Lincoln and Chris has a similar number in Somerville by way of Brooklyn.  We still have one big spider plant in Colorado and there are a couple in New Hampshire.

This year I took  a tiny offshoot to Oregon. Henry, who I think is destined to be a gardner or at least a mulch spreader, had fun planting it as a Mother's Day gift for Alex.  We are now in the real second generation of spider plants!

Reviewed 9/21/2017