Gluten-Free Grilled Pork Loin and Sweet Potatoes
GF – grilled pork loin and grilled sweet potatoes
Today I had a little time. After my PT session mellowed out every muscle, I was able to relax a bit and plan a great relaxing dinner for my love. One quick stop at the market and I was ready to go. Since I knew I had time, I planned on marinating the pork loin for as long as I could. (This turned out to be about 4 hours.)
I made an ever-so-slightly spicy adobo/chili marinade for the pork loin based on one by Rick Bayless (if he’s looking for groupies…. I’ll sign up to be the first. LOL). The sweet potatoes were the best though – I had never grilled sweet potatoes before. After tonight, this may just be my preferred cooking method for them!
Dinner was a hit… at home and at the neighbor’s house. We had enough left over to bring over plates full of pork and the corn-pineapple pico de gallo that I made on the side (sorry no photos…. I forgot!)
Here’s the recipe. I hope it brings a little end-of-July happiness into your life too.
Pork Loin Marinade (for a 2-3 pound pork loin)
1/3 c. ground pasilla chiles (buy this in the spice aisle – or better yet, at your local Mexican grocer!)
3/4 c. water
4-6 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tablespoon minced ginger
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon Mexican Oregano
1. Heat the olive oil up in a small sauce pan. Add the garlic and ginger and stir until very fragrant (about a minute).
2. Add the remaining marinade ingredients by whisking.
3. Simmer the marinade over low heat for 8 minutes.
4. Cool marinade to room temperature.
5. Pour marinade over pork loin in a large (enough) Ziploc bag.
6. Refrigerate until ready to grill.
Sweet Potatoes:
1. Prepare sweet potatoes by peeling and chopping into large chunks.
2. Drizzle 1-2 Tablespoons of olive oil over sweet potatoes (depending on number of potatoes).
3. Sprinkle 3/4 Tablespoon of sea salt onto potatoes.
(NOTE: I also added 2 Tablespoons of brown sugar at this point – as we like our potatoes sweet.)
DIRECTIONS FOR GRILLING:
1. Heat one side of the gas grill to medium-high and the other to low (as low as it goes).
2. Grill the pork loin on the medium-high heat side for 4-5 minutes on each side (flipping once).
3. Move the pork to the low-heat side.
4. In a grill pan, put the sweet potatoes over the medium-high heat side. Turning and stirring throughout the remaining of the cooking time.
5. Cook for 12 minutes (turning potatoes throughout) then flip the pork loins. Cook an additional 12 minutes or until an internal temperature of 147F (pork) and the potatoes are tender. (Total potato cooking time: 25 minutes)
6. Remove pork and potatoes from heat. Tent the pork under aluminum foil and allow to rest for 12-15 minutes.
7. Put the sweet potatoes into a serving bowl. Since we like sweeter potatoes, I drizzled them with 2 Tablespoons of butter, 2 Tablespoons of maple syrup and 1 Tablespoon of brown sugar. Add all seasonings to taste.
Once the resting time is over, slice the pork loin thinly and serve with the grilled sweet potatoes.
Enjoy!