Grilled Pork Tenderloin w/ Bite Sized Caprese Salad:

Grilled Pork Tenderloin w/ Bite Sized Caprese Salad:
The season of grilling and fresh tomatoes. *Gluten Free
I’m a big one for planning meals ahead. Hit the grocery, farmer’s market, and plan. Our household is big on poultry and pork. The meat eaters that we are, I rarely cook any beef products, so, I try to have some sort of poultry or pork in the freezer that I can defrost and use for recipes or for grilling. Today was Hot and I was busy cleaning and working, so I wanted a simple meal that would satisfy all.

Pork tenderloin. This our “steak.” You can do so much with this cut meat: slow cook it, grill it, roast it. Today, I decided to take advantage of the grill and my husband’s new love of Caprese salad. I found the tiny ball, bite size buffalo mozzarella and sourced some fresh yellow and red grape tomatoes at the farmers market. A little chopped basil, balsamic vinegar, and BOOM; meat and veg dinner!

I defrosted the pork tenderloin today, marinated it and placed in a plastic ziplock bag in the fridge. Once in the bag, I always put my marinated meats in a shallow container to maximize the marinade surface, and try to flip it at least once. This time I only marinated the meat for about 3.5 hours and it turned out fabulous (even though it poured rain on me while I was grilling outside!) Making the modified bite size Caprese salad ahead of time left just the grilling when my husband got home. Perfect! Right? Except for the rain.

That said. This makes a very simple, but delicious meal and makes great leftovers. You can even put the bite size Caprese Salad on top of your choice of greens or chop up the pork and add for a terrific lunch time or dinner salad.

Bite Sized Caprese Salad

1 large bunch Basil chopped without stems.
2 pints Grape tomatoes halved or cut in bite size pieces
3/4  lb. of 1/3 oz “Cherry size” buffalo mozzarella cut in half or in 3 pieces *
*(If you can’t find the cherry size mozzarella, use fresh buffalo mozzarella and chop into small bite sized pieces.)

2 Tbs Sweet Balsamic vinegar
1  1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tsp salt (more to taste, based on your preference.)

Chop basil. Cut tomatoes and mozzarella into bite size pieces. Place all into bowl and add vinegar, salt, and pepper. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour to bring out flavor.

Pork Tenderloin

2. 25 Lb. Pork Tenderloin (2 good sized tenderloins)
1 bottle of Stubb’s Ancho Chili and Garlic marinade (Gluten Free)

Rinse the tenderloins and place into a quartz sized ziplock bag. Pour in the marinade into bag over meat. Zip bag and, with your hands, work the marinade throughout the meat making sure all your meat is well covered. Place bag in a shallow container (a small glass or aluminum rectangular baking pan is ideal) and refrigerate for 3-6 hours.

Grill tenderloins approx. 15 minutes per side on a medium to low grill. I like to get grill marks initially on a higher heat; flipping once, then turning down temperature and grilling 12 min + each side. Rule of thumb: the more “give” (or squishy) the tenderloin, the rarer it is, less “give” the more cooked. Remove from grill and let sit 10 minutes prior to carving. (Meat sitting continues to cook and stays juicier before cutting.) Cut tenderloins at a slight angle and serve.

Notes: this is a great dinner to make ahead of time, in the morning or even evening before; go ahead and make Caprese Salad, but do not add vinegar, salt, or pepper until 20 minutes prior to grilling. You can even wait to chop basil and add when you add the rest, depending on your taste. For the pork: marinate in morning and leave until you are home and ready to grill. Just be mindful: the longer you marinate, the more the acid in your marinade tenderizes and “cooks” your meat, meaning you may want to cut down your grilling time by a few minutes.