Del-icious!: Lime and beer marinated pork loin & spring salad

If I look back over my posts for the previous year, it seems I've made both a Summer salad and an Autumnal version. This makes me feel good, as it implies that I've really embraced the seasonal eating philosophy and produced two quite different salads, reflective of the Seasons. The Summer one was bright and colourful with a mix of crunchy, crisp vegetables and sweet soft roasted beets etc. while the Fall version, although no less colourful, was of a richer hue with a softer texture, more jewel like. Both salads used vegetables that had been roasted to tease out their flavour (or change it in the case of the radishes). This one, using Spring produce is very similar to the Summer version in what's been used, only mostly everything is raw, with a few Spring ingredients blanched to reach tenderness and then pan fried in butter for a creamy and savoury flavour. I don't really know if that says anything about the actual season itself, I can't really think of any insightful and witty metaphors to use, so I'll just say it's an interesting combination of textures and tastes that highlights the new growth of Spring best eaten without too much mucking about.

But, I also discovered a new tangy and savoury marinade for pork, cooked to accompany the salad. Pork loin is a wonderful ingredient, bare and ready to be slathered in a spicy, sweet and tangy concoction, like this one, which both adds flavour and makes it more tender.

The recipe for this marinade was taken from Canadian Living website and as well as provide this winner, it also gave me some information to think about. Whenever I marinade a piece of meat, without blinking I always preserve the marinade to make a sauce, never before giving a moment's thought to any health issues. I would always make sure I boiled it for a few minutes to help destroy any bacteria, but it seems that this may not be enough to render it safe and many trained chefs are taught to never, ever do this, (even basting the meat with this marinade can be dangerous). Opinion seems to be divided, some say boiling for at least 10 minutes will be OK, while others claim that no amount of cooking will completely eradicate all the harmful things picked up from raw meat. The alternative: make twice as much marinade at the beginning and keep half solely to make your sauce.

Recipe : Lime and beer marinade for pork

Adapted from Canadian Living website

1/4 cup beer (alcoholic or non - alcoholic)

1/6 cup lime juice (about 2 whole limes)

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 tbsp fresh sage, finely minced

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/8 tsp ground coriander

1/8 tsp salt

a few good twists of black pepper

1 pork loin

Cut the limes in half, squeeze out as much juice as you can into a bowl and then add the halved limes also. Add all other ingredients and mix well.

Slash a few cuts into the pork, (only cut the surface, not too deep) and place into a zip loc bag.

Pour the marinade including the lime halves into the bag, squeeze out some of the air and seal. Massage the marinade into the pork. Refrigerate for several hours. (Alternatively, place the pork straight into the bowl, turn to coat, cover and refrigerate.

If you want to make a sauce with the pork, make another bowl of marinade using half the ingredients again and cover and refrigerate separately.

When you are ready to cook the pork, remove from the marinade, wiping any excess off with a paper towel and either grill, (broil), barbecue or roast at 375oF for about 30 minutes until cooked through with either a small amount or no pink in the middle, (depending on taste). Cut into slices and serve.

To make a sauce: Pour the separate marinade into a pan and gently bring to the boil until heated through. Turn up the heat and boil more rapidly to reduce and thicken. (Other options are to add a little cornflour mixed with a tsp of sauce and poured back into the pan or a spoonful of sour cream). Taste the sauce, it may be quite strong, in which case you can add a little water and reduce again until you have a taste and thickness you like.

Recipe : Spring salad & classic mustard vinaigrette

As I mentioned earlier, this salad is mostly raw with a few added ingredients briefly blanched to retain crispness and colour and then quickly fried in butter and oil. I find that cubes of Cheddar or Swiss cheese elevate anything they are mixed with, whether it's a packet of ready salted crisps (chips), or something more elaborate like this.

a handful of baby spinach leaves

1/4 English cucumber, cut into small chunks

8 small flavourful tomatoes, halved

1 large or 3 small bell peppers, seeded and finely sliced

4 radishes, cut into small dice

a 1 inch chunk of cheese, cut into small dice

1 tsp oil and 1 tbsp butter

5 asparagus stalks, snapped free of their woody ends

6 mushrooms, sliced

a handful of kale leaves, cut free of the stalks

2 tbsp sunflower seeds

First, bring a large pan of salted water to a boil over medium heat and blanch the asparagus for about 2 minutes until bright green and slightly tender, drain. Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan over medium heat and add the asparagus, mushrooms and kale. Fry, stirring constantly, until a little browned on the edges and softened. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Mix all the other salad ingredients together in a large bowl and add the cooled asparagus, mushrooms and kale. Mix well and dress with the vinaigrette, (recipe follows).

Recipe : Mustard vinaigrette

If I'm honest, I usually dress salads with a drizzle of oil, balsamic or apple cider vinegar and salt and pepper. Somewhat under dressed really. This beauty of a salad deserved some finer attire and so I looked up and made this classic dressing.

From All Recipes.com

1/2 cup white vinegar

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

2 tsp salt

2 tsp minced garlic

1 cup olive oil

Mix everything together, whisking gently with a fork until well combined and emulsified. Pour over the salad. I found this was also a great sauce poured over the pork, the tangy sharpness a good match with the richness.

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