Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Happy Monday everyone!  The Cirque show Chris and I went to with friends on Saturday was really fun!  The Cirque acrobats were very impressive!  We went to a nice dinner at Latitude 41 and then out to a piano bar after, talk about a fun packed Saturday night!  Quick local shoutout, if you are looking for a nice place in downtown Columbus that's moderately priced, farm to table menu I would definitely give Latitude 41 a look.  I had the mushroom risotto with a pear salad, both of which were delicious.  All parties at our table were incredibly pleased with our dishes as well as cocktails. 

Two weekends ago Chris and I didn't have a whole lot going on so we took advantage, got some R & R and tried some new recipes!  As Chris will attest I'm not the greatest at "do nothing weekends", I have a tendency to plan lots of stuff for our "do nothing" time.  This was no exception, I made two new wreaths for upcoming seasons, tried a new grilled pork tenderloin recipe, caught up on one of my favorite shows: Weeds, and prepped a stew for lunches.

My finished wreaths, one for Valentine's Day and one for Superbowl!

I got the pork recipe from watching Symon's Suppers on the Cooking Channel.  I'm a big fan of Michael Symon, Cleveland boy that promotes the city whenever he can and has great recipes, what's not to love!?  We wanted to give a new recipe a try and agreed this one sounded good (we decided to forgo the mustard fruit as that didn't quite appeal to us and seemed like more fuss than necessary).

Grilled Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:
- 1/2 c. chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
- 2 tsp. coriander seeds, toasted and ground
- 2 tsp. cumin seeds, toasted and ground
- 2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. paprika
- zest and juice of 1 lime
- pork tenderloin, cleaned and silver skin removed (typically these come in a pack of two tenderloins, since we were only cooking for two we just made one and froze the other)

Instructions:
- Clean tenderloin, meaning cut off any excess fat and remove silver skin (this is a good demonstration of cleaning the tenderloin that I found if you need help).
- To toast and grind your coriander and cumin seeds you put them in a small pan on the stove on medium heat, once they get fragrant and warm you can grind them.  You can use a mortar and pestle but if you are like me and don't own a set then you can put the seeds onto aluminum foil, fold it into a little pocket and grind them with a rolling pin or other heavyish object.
- Whisk together cilantro, mustard, coriander, cumin, salt, paprika, lime juice and zest.

- Coat the tenderloin with the marinade, cover with plastic wrap or seal in a plastic bag and let sit for 30 minutes at room temperature or overnight in the fridge.

- Preheat the grill to medium-high heat.
- Grill pork to your liking, Chris and I did as Symon's recipe said and went for just under medium, 3 to 4 minutes per side for about 20 minutes or more.

- Let rest for 7 to 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

- Slice, serve and enjoy!

You can add fresh arugula and a drizzle of olive oil on top if you'd like but we liked it just the way it was.  I paired it with salad on the side with a homemade honey mustard dressing and steamed asparagus.  We both had about three pieces and had enough leftovers for a couple lunches.  You could probably cube your leftovers and turn them into good BBQ pork sandwiches or use it to top a salad.

The picture makes it look very underdone but its actually cooked through, if pink makes you squeamish then cook for longer.

On the Chris rating scale (see previously explained scale here) this one got a "this is good, let's make it again" although we both agreed we'd like to cook it better.  It was very tastey we just haven't had much experience grilling a tenderloin.

Up next I cooked the other tenderloin in the two pack yesterday and made it into Balsamic Honey Pulled Pork Sliders with Broccoli Slaw so I'll share that with you.  I'll also be sharing some soup recipes that have been keeping our tummies warm during these frigid temps!  One great thing about chilly Sundays is turning up some good tunes in the kitchen (The Music of Nashville Soundtrack is currently my favorite) and churning out some good food!  

Cheers!
Steph