After a month of burgers and skillets full of melted cheese, I decide it was time to mix in a few salads. As I have gotten older I have come to appreciate the healthful benefits of a good salad. All those fibrous greens and veggies really keep things moving along, but my favorite thing about salad is that it’s a great vessel for grilled meat. This week we made a Greek style salad with feta cheese, cucumbers and citrus vinaigrette and topped it with grilled pork slovaki.
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| Salad with Grilled Pork Slovaki |
The pork slovaki is really easy and really tasty, too. I started with a pork tenderloin, cleaned off any excess fat and silver skin, then cut it into 1” inch pieces. Since I was going to skewer the pork I needed each piece to be cut as uniform as possible so they would cook evenly. After the pieces were cut, I tossed them in a large ziplock bag with a ¼ cup of lemon juice, 2-3 crushed cloves of garlic and 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil. Once the bag was sealed I worked the marinate into the meat then refrigerated for an hour or so.
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| Slovaki Grilling on the Weber Kettle |
After the pork was well marinated it was time to skewer and season it. I soaked my wooden skewers in warm water for 15 minutes to help keep them from burning up on the grill. I also used a double skewer to keep the meat from rolling around. I threaded 6 chunks of meat on the sticks then seasoned with Cavenders All Purpose Greek Seasoning. I first tasted Cavenders over 20 years ago at a dinner party at a friend’s house. I bought a bottle of it on my way home and have been using it ever since. You could say, it was one of my inspirations to create my own rubs.
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| Pork is grilled and ready to eat. |
Cooking the slovaki is pretty quick, 8-10 minutes. Just be sure to temp the pieces of pork in the middle of the kabob, it should be over 140º. I like to be sure mine are done so I cook them closer to 150º. I’ve served some raw pork before and it was not a pretty scene, Cheryl and Trissi have not let me forget it either.
I covered my plate with a big pile of salad and topped it with a hot skewer of slovaki, a big dollop of tzakiki sauce, a couple of pitas and some hummus and dinner was on! The slovaki was perfectly cooked, it had a perfect balance of seasoning and tangy essence of lemon. Pair that will the cool crunch of the fresh greens and veggies, it was so good I completely forgot this was a healthy meal. Yeah, I think I’m going to eat quite a few more of these salads to help get his burger weight of, but at least I won’t be suffering.
Good lord I love tzatziki sauce, one of the best condiments ever invented.