Two for the Grill

Balsamic Honey Tenderloin

How does a barbecue meal come together at your house? Around here, it takes two. I do the prep in the kitchen and my husband handles the grilling. It works well for us except that over the years we’ve become so used to our roles that neither of us is really comfortable with switching over (plus I am not a big fan of fire of any kind, so our system is okay with me.)

Last weekend we two had a lovely meal out on the deck. We enjoyed balsamic honey tenderloin, potato and onion packets and coleslaw. The tenderloin recipe came from Canadian Living/The Barbecue Collection: a really big cookbook full of recipes you’ll want to try. The recipe said we’d have a delicious crust on the meat, but that didn’t happen. However, it was so tasty and so melt-in-your-mouth good that we didn’t miss the crust. The leftover pork was equally good the next day. The potato and onion packets are something we’ve been making for years (and you probably have your own version of it, too) so I thought it was a good idea to write it down somewhere. For convenience, I used bagged coleslaw and tossed it with bottled coleslaw dressing and a few little extras to make it my own (think celery seeds, caraway seeds, a teaspoon of sugar and maybe some extra mayo).

MA’s Balsamic Honey Tenderloin

from Canadian Living/The Barbecue Collection Cookbook

Pork skinned and marinade mixed

2 pork tenderloins, about 12 oz each

2 tbsp liquid honey

2 tbsp grainy mustard

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

Remove any silverskin (connective tissue) from the pork.

Mix together honey, mustard, vinegar, oil, garlic, salt and pepper.

Brush with marinade and turn occasionally

Put the pork in a non-metal dish and pour marinade over it. Turn the meat to coat. Marinate for 20 minutes or, refrigerated, for up to 1 day. (We marinated ours for about 8 hours.)

Remove pork from marinade, reserving the marinade to brush on as a glaze as the meat grills.

Place pork on greased grill over medium-high heat. Brush with marinade. Grill, covered, turning occasionally, until just a hint of pink remains in centre (about 160º F), about 18 minutes.

Sliced and ready to enjoy

Transfer meat to cutting board; tent with foil and let rest for about five minutes before slicing.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Printable Recipe for MA's Balsamic Honey Tenderloin

 

MA’s Grilled Potato and Onion Packets

Potato and onion with seasonings

3 Russet potatoes, sliced thinly - almost, but not quite through, to the bottom of the potato

1 white onion, thinly sliced

olive oil

sea salt or seasoning salt (I used a roasted garlic and sea salt seasoning)

pepper (I used freshly ground red, white and black pepper)

Cut heavy-duty aluminum foil or two layers of regular foil into 3 - 12” squares (or larger pieces if needed to accommodate the potatoes).

The packet

On each piece of foil, place a sliced potato. Put slices of onion between each slice of potato. Spray or drizzle a little olive oil over the potato and onions. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Repeat with other two potatoes and remainder of onion slices.

Wrap foil around the potato and onion to make a packet.

Place the packets on the grill over medium high heat. Cover and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, turning once or twice as they cook.

Grilled to perfection!

Remove packets from grill and open carefully. After all, it is a hot potato in there. Turn out into serving dish. Hungrier folk may wish to have a whole packet to themselves and that’s okay, too.

Printable Recipe for MA's Potato and Onion Packets