Spicy Thai Pork Tenderloin Salad
We have a great whole animal butcher here in Black Mountain. Foothills Butcher Bar has a CSA service where you can get a box of meat once a week. It is a ‘butcher’s choice” so you don’t know what you will be getting - which leads to some pleasant surprises. I tried this out for a month and it filled our freezer with a ton of food (we don’t eat that much meat so these boxes will last us quite a while). Last week I pulled out a pork tenderloin that looked like a good bet for dinner and went in search of some recipe ideas. I found this Thai-flavored salad on the NY Times that hit the mark. It was relatively easy and the salad was outstanding.
You could do variations of this recipe in a couple of ways:
Forget the meat. The salad is awesome. It is basically a slaw with Thai dressing. I had the salad by itself for a couple lunches and it really hit the spot.
You could substitute other meats for the pork and it will still be good. Boneless skinless chicken breasts would be a natural substitution. Beef would also work, I would think. The key is the marinade, which will work on anything.
A couple of notes:
This recipe makes a lot of dressing/marinade. You could probably cut it in half and still have plenty.
The recipe calls lots of chopping and slicing for the dressing/marinade and then blending half the dressing as a marinade and keeping the rest for the dressing. Being a bit lazy I just through everything in the blender and and made it all as one batch. I would recommend this approach.
I did not use the mint leaves or the basil. I am sure they would have been delicious, but this time of year a cup or so of each (if you could find it) would be crazy expensive. I did not miss these ingredients.
Don’t skip toasting the peanuts and the coconut flakes. It just takes a minute or two and the crunch is worth it.
Hope you get a chance to enjoy this. The salad alone is worth the effort.
Spicy Thai Pork Tenderloin Salad
Ingredients:
For the marinade and dressing:
1 ½ pounds boneless pork tenderloin (usually 2 tenderloins)
⅔ cup thinly sliced shallots (about 4 shallots)
⅔ cup chopped cilantro leaves and tender stems
5 tablespoons light brown sugar
6 garlic cloves, grated
5 tablespoons soy sauce
5 tablespoons peanut or grapeseed oil
Juice and zest of 4 limes
3-inch piece peeled ginger root, grated
2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
½ teaspoon kosher salt, more to taste
1 to 2 Thai bird, serrano or jalapeño chile peppers, seeded and minced
For the salad:
8 cups Napa or regular cabbage, thinly sliced
5 whole scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
2 small Kirby or Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 ½ cups cilantro leaves
1 ½ cups mint leaves
1 cup basil leaves
1 ¼ cups roasted cashews or peanuts, toasted and chopped
¼ cup unsweetened coconut chips or large flakes, toasted
Preparation
Pat pork dry with paper towel. In a bowl, combine shallot, cilantro, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, garlic, soy sauce, peanut or grapeseed oil, lime zest and juice, ginger, fish sauce, salt and chile. Pour a quarter of the mixture into a blender, add remaining sugar and purée until a smooth, loose paste forms. (Save the unblended mixture to use as dressing.) NOTE: I PUT ALL THE INGREDIENTS IN A BLENDER AND WHIRRED AWAY.
Place tenderloin in a large bowl and spread the paste all over pork. Marinate at room temperature for 2 hours, or cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours; turn the tenderloin occasionally.
Light the grill or heat the broiler and arrange a rack at least 4 inches from the heat. Grill or broil pork, turning occasionally, until well browned and meat reaches an internal temperature of 135 degrees, 4 to 10 minutes per side depending upon the heat of your broiler or grill. Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t overcook. Let meat rest while you prepare the salad. (Or, cook the pork 1 or 2 hours ahead and serve it at room temperature.)
In a large bowl, combine the salad ingredients, reserving the herbs, cashews and coconut. Whisk the dressing and use just enough to dress the salad, tossing to combine. Let sit for a few minutes for the flavors to meld, then right before serving, add herbs and toss again.
To serve, slice the pork. Arrange salad on a platter and top with sliced pork. Scatter cashews and coconut on top, drizzle with a little more of the remaining dressing, to taste.