Sunday, 3/27/2011

I've made Caribbean Pork Bowls several times in the past year, but never took the time to type out the actual recipe. Tonight's the night I am finally going to get to it. The funny thing is that tonight's the first time I didn't use pork. I used chicken breast instead of pork tenderloin and found it worked just as well. Here's the recipe.

CARIBBEAN PORK BOWL
from Cuisine at Home's Weeknight Menus 

Makes 4 Pork Bowl servings
Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:
Blanch; Pulse with:
4-6 tomatillos, quartered (8 oz.)
1 1/2 cups fresh pineapple, chopped
1/2 cup white onion, chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, lightly packed
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 jalapeno, chopped
2 t. sugar
1/2 t. kosher salt

Blend:
1 t. chili powder
1 t. brown sugar
1 t. kosher salt
1/2 t. black pepper

Toss with Spice Mixture; Saute in 2 T. Olive Oil:
1 lb. pork tenderloin, trimmed

Stir in:
1/2 lb. kielbasa, cut into 8 pieces
2 T. garlic, minced

Deglazed:
1/4 cup fresh lime juice

Directions:
1. Blanch tomatillos in boiling water for 5 minutes, or until they begin to soften. Remove husk, drain and rinse in cold water.
2. Pulse tomatillos with pineapple, onion, cilantro, lime juice, jalapeno, sugar, and salt in a processor or blender until finely chopped. Cover and chill.
3. Blend spices.
4. Toss trimmed pork (cut into 1 1/2" cubes) with spice mixture. Heat oil in a large saute pan over medium-high; saute pork for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Stir in kielbasa and garlic, and saute an additional 5 minutes, or until kielbasa begins to brown, stirring to keep the garlic from burning.
6. Deglaze with lime juice and boil until syrupy, 1-2 minutes. Serve with Black Beans and Rice, and top with tomatillo salsa.

The salsa recipe makes way more than is needed for one meal. The first time I made the dish, I poured the left over salsa into an ice cube tray and froze it. Now I can pop a salsa cube in the microwave for a few seconds and it is ready to use. 

The best part of the meal was how Ben and I successfully used reverse psychology on Katie and got her to eat her dinner! We told her we didn't think she could get the chicken and rice into her mouth using her fork. She responded by shoveled it in while grinning. It was awesome! We gave each other fist bumps after the meal was over and her plate was empty:)