With a live animal show at our local library, the kids needed to have an early dinner last night. However, with a work meeting scheduled for 6:30, the adults needed a late dinner. So, in the interest of making dinners that pleased everyone, the kids had hot dogs while I planned a surprise meal for the adults.
Thinking about our upcoming, though delayed, honeymoon to Hawaii, I decided to make foods with that flair. When I was at the grocery store, I found a special on pork tenderloin, which became the basis for our meal. I also purchased a pineapple to accompany the pork.
Rummaging through our cupboards, I created what I thought would make a sweet and flavorful Hawaiian marinade. As I would be grilling the pork, I decided that the pineapple should be grilled also. Instead of just serving the pineapple plain, I decided to add a little extra flavor to that also.
Served with my own version of a Hawaiian cocktail and parmesan crisps, this was a wonderful dinner for us.
- 1 4-ounce can pineapple juice
- 1/4 soy sauce
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced
- 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
- 1 lb. pork tenderloin
- 1/2 pineapple, cored and peeled
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 Tb. cinnamon
- Cut pork into 1 inch slices. Combine first four ingredients in a resealable gallon bag and add pork. Seal and refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours. Preheat grill to medium heat. Place pork slices on grill and cook for 4 minutes per side. (Times may vary for each grill.) Discard marinade. Serve pork immediately when done.
- Cut pineapple into 1-1/2 inch cubes. Pour coconut milk into a small bowl. Combine the sugar and cinnamon in another small bowl. Preheat grill to medium heat.
- Make an assembly line starting with cubed pineapple, then a bowl of coconut milk, next a bowl of sugar and cinnamon, and finally an empty plate on which to place the completed cubes. Dip one pineapple cube in the coconut milk and allow the excess to drip off. Then place the pineapple in the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Finally set cubes on the last plate. Put completed cubes on metal skewers.
- Put skewers of pineapple on grill and cook for approximately 3 minutes per side. Serve immediately.
[…] my last post, I described the Hawaiian-inspired dinner for two that I created. As I was visualizing the two dishes (a pineapple and soy sauce marinated pork […]