Recipes by Zola - Caribbean Pork Tenderloin with Fresh, Chunky Summer Fruit Sauce

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Caribbean Pork Tenderloin with Fresh, Chunky Summer Fruit Sauce

Zola Gorgon

"Cooking" from Afar...

I've been thinking of starting another company. I think I might call it "Second Floor Cooking Consulting."

As many of you know, I've been pretty well confined to my second floor. I started off with herniated discs that I just happened to wake up with. Horrible pain. The herniations did not respond to steroids. It deteriorated so much at one point that I could no longer walk and had to be hospitalized. They tried an epidural treatment. That failed. Because I was out of town and once again unable to walk or even move much I had to be med-flighted to Chicago for more treatment. They admitted me to the hospital and after several days of working to control the pain with meds, they tried an injection directly into my nervous system to stem the problem. No dice. Didn't work. I was discharged with a walker and no real prospect for walking soon. I had to figure out, would I be on the first floor or the second floor? I could not handle stairs.

I chose the second floor for several reasons. My bedroom is upstairs for #1. I knew I'd be in bed a fair amount. My second floor has a living room with the big plasma TV. I figured I could watch movies. The second floor has a bar so I'd have a refrigerator for refreshments and maybe most of all my second floor has the outside roof decks so I could get some fresh air and maybe smell my flowers; and if I was lucky, maybe I could water them and see the night sky after the day's heat wore down.

All I was missing was food. For a food writer, of sorts, that's a pretty big thing to be missing but I knew we'd deal with it. I was hoping this was a short-term illness and there's always delivery. In this town you can get every kind of food imaginable delivered to your door. I was surely not going to starve.

As time went on it became more evident that surgery was my next step. I hated the thought. I just wanted to get better with will and prayer. That wasn't working; at least not fast enough.

The surgery was last Friday. So far, MAJOR success. I walked out on my own two feet; no walker and no pain. Of course I'm taking narcotics every 8 hours but the good news is I can walk! No more shooting pains down my leg either.

My husband has been in charge of food. Bless his heart. Most times that means dialing the phone but it's not because he doesn't want to cook. He just runs out of time to go to the store. Now he knows how so many American moms feel. There's never enough time. He has cooked some great meals. Last night was burgers and corn but he's gotten more adventurous too. And one time, when he decided to go to the store for food I decided it was time for me to try out my new "Second Floor Cooking Consulting" business. How would it go over? Could, or would, he be willing to take direction from the second floor? He could hear me in the kitchen as I lay on the couch. No problem. He didn't have a single problem with my making a grocery list and his foraging for food. He found all the spices in the cupboard to get started so we were on a roll.

My inspiration for this dish came from a recipe I had seen in a magazine for some grilled lamb chops with a rub on them. Whenever I read a recipe I try to look at it and ask myself how I can do it differently. I think that's where most recipe inventions come from. Read, get inspired and experiment. Even cooking contests say that if you significantly change three ingredients in a recipe you can all it your own. I try to go beyond that.

This recipe for grilled lamb gave me a hankering for pork tenderloin. My husband does not like lamb. That's a major motivator to change something. I looked at the rub and decided they had made it more complicated than necessary. Then, I decided it was high time to use some of the bounty of fruits available this time of year and make a chunky sauce that would balance off the heat of the spices. Then, the real challenge. Make it easy enough for a novice who really doesn't want to spend his time in the kitchen. He wants to watch sports or a good movie and then eat the wonderful results of the toiling of cooking. He doesn't want to really have to do all the work. Some, is fine, but not all!

The recipe I'm about to give you was more than a success. My husband proved that he could really cook! He could take a few hints called down from my Second Floor Cooking Consulting position and put them into culinary action with no visual supervision. I could not see a thing he was doing. I had to trust him and he had to trust himself. I think you'll find this dish easy to make, fun to eat and particularly satisfying when sharing the confidence you gain when you make it. Even if you've never cooked dinner-go for it! As my mother used to say, "If you can read you can cook"; and I guarantee it's "right on" this time.

Caribbean Pork Tenderloin with Fresh, Chunky Summer Fruit Sauce

Plus: Optional Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Serves 4

2 Pork tenderloins. They are about 1 pound each and usually come ready to use two to a package.
2 Tbl ground coriander
2 Tbl ground cumin
2 Tbl paprika (I use Hungarian)
2 Tbl ground ginger
1 Tbl turmeric
1 Tbl curry powder
1 Tbl chili powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

In a small bowl mix all of these together to make your rub. Frankly, if you are missing one or two of these ingredients don't fret. It won't taste much different and just won't really matter. The one I'd say to try to have for sure is the chili powder or you'll lose the heat but if you want less spice you can leave that out anyway.

Rub the mixture all over your tenderloins. Make sure every surface is covered. Then put them in a 9 X 13 pan so they have room to cook, uncovered, without touching each other. Put this in your 400-degree oven to roast to 160 degrees on your meat thermometer. This should take 20 - 30 minutes. If you don't want ANY pink in your pork, roast to 170 degrees.

For the sauce:

3 fresh ripe peaches chopped (don't even bother to peel. Toss away the pit though)
1 small can pineapple tidbits with juice (or fresh chunks is good too)
3 fresh plums diced. No peeling needed
2 fresh mangoes peeled and chopped (or you can buy peeled mango. Use 4 long slices and chop them up)
5 tsp minced garlic (Jar garlic is fine)
1-1" piece of fresh ginger minced
1 fresh large banana

Put all ingredients except the banana in a large saucepan. Turn on medium and cook until the fruit starts to break down (cooked but not mushy). The juice from the pineapple is enough liquid. You don't want mush when you are done. This should take no longer than the pork.

Turn off the sauce and allow it to set. Chop your banana and add it to the sauce and stir.

Take the pork out of the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes so the juices are reabsorbed. Cut the pork diagonally in half inch slices and serve with the sauce.

Optional:

To round out the meal we also roasted 2 sweet potatoes and mashed them with butter. This is optional but they make a full, colorful meal. The sweet potatoes will take about an hour to roast at 400 or until soft in the middle. Poke them with a fork a few times before putting them in the oven. This lets the steam escape.

This news arrived on: 08/06/2007

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