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 cup soy sauce
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 pound pork tenderloin
- 1/2 pineapple, cored and peeled
- 1/2 cup coconut milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons 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 […]