Pork Tenderloin with Chimichurri
Ingredients
Chimichurri:
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
- 2 jalapenos, seeded and minced – I used one
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- About 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- About 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh oregano leaves – I used fresh marjoram instead
- 3 limes, juiced
- 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns - I used regular ground pepper
- 2 pork tenderloins (about 1 pound each), trimmed of excess fat, patted dry – I made this with 1 tenderloin
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Lime juice, for drizzling
- Parsley sprigs, for garnish
Directions
Combine the garlic, jalapeno and vinegar in a bowl. Stir in the parsley, oregano, and lime juice. Whisk in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Mix well and set aside at room temperature to allow the flavors to marry.
Reserve 1/2 cup of the chimichurri to serve and marinate the pork in the rest. (I made the full amount of the sauce, but only used one PTL, so I just put the pork in a Ziploc, and added sauce until it was well covered) Put the pork and marinade in a sealable plastic bag and set aside in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Preheat an outdoor charcoal grill or oven broiler to high.
Remove the pork from the marinade, wiping off any excess (I did not do very much/any wiping). Season both sides with a generous amount of salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and place on the grill (I did not drizzle, since I didn’t wipe the marinade off). Grill the pork on the hottest part of the barbecue for 4 minutes per side, until well charred. (I used my oven broiler…broiled about 4-6 minutes on each side…juicy and delicious!)
Allow the tenderloin to rest for about 5 minutes prior to slicing (Do this! I know it's tempting...). Spoon some chimichurri over the meat, drizzle with lime juice, garnish with parsley, and serve with the remaining sauce at the table.
Recipe courtesy of Tyler Florence, 2007 (
What I Thought
Umm...delicious! I would absolutely recommend trying this recipe! I think not wiping off the marinade gave the pork some fantastic extra flavor. It really doesn't take that long to make, mostly just the time it takes to flavor the pork, but I roasted the asparagus in that time, and then it took about 15 minutes or so to finish supper (in which I made the salad)!
Since I only made one tenderloin, but made the whole bit of sauce, I had a bunch of leftover sauce. This is delicious on all sorts of things...roasted vegetables, a salad the next day, perhaps rotisserie chicken, if you're not feeling so much like cooking?...
A Quick Tip
For those who perhaps don't have much or any experience with pork tenderloin, let me just say this is one of my favorite cuts of meat to cook. They're super easy to make, and so so delicious!
They have a big piece of connective tissue called the "silver skin" running down the side. It's named such, because that's what it looks like! You will definitely see it. Just slide your knife under it, and cut it off...easy as that! But for sure get if off of there, cause if you don't and cook the meat, it's really tough, and will make the meat all curly on that end.
I usually buy the 2 packs of pork tenderloin, make one, then trim up the other one, wrap it good in foil, and pop it in the freezer. Then, you've got it pretty much ready to go (just thaw it up!), and you don't even have to clean the meat!
Enjoy!
