What's For Dinner?

I don't want to brag, but we had the absolute most DELICIOUS dinner last night!!!  I have to say that the husband and I make a pretty good team in the kitchen ;o)

For our Honeymoon we went to Ocho Rios, Jamaica.  One thing we couldn't get enough of while we were there was the yummy Jamaican cuisine!!!  I swear, we were probably eating every 2 hours! Besides, when you go to an all inclusive resort the goal is to eat and drink as much as you possibly can to get your money's worth right?! 

I mean seriously ...the food was AMAZING!!

So last night for dinner we decided to whip up a little Jamaican dish of our own.  Grilled Jamaican Jerk Curried Pork (Yes, we're still having delicious meals from those little piggies we caught on our property) with cilantro lime rice (chipotle style) with black beans and onions and steamed asparagus on the grill.  All I can say is YUUUUUUUMMMMMM!!!!! Oh, and as a treat my awesome husband decided we needed awesome drinks to go with this awesome meal.  So he made marbeeritas ...it was a very good night :o)

 

As you can tell I pretty much licked my plate clean!  I have to give props to my husband for grilling.  The meat was so tasty and cooked to perfection!

So here's how we did it...

Jamaican Jerk Curried Pork

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground black pepper

2 tbsp curry powder

2 tbsp ground ginger

2 tsp ground red pepper

2 c coarsely chopped green onions

1/2 onion coarsely chopped

2 tbsp white vinegar

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp dried thyme

2 tsp brown sugar

2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 to 4 habenero or jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped

1 pork tenderloin

Preparation

First we put a rub on the pork loin.  Put the first 6 ingredients on the loin. Combine all the other ingredients above and put into a blender or food processor. Combine pre-seasoned pork and green onion mixture in a dish, cover and let marinade for 3-24 hrs.  Remove pork from dish and discard remaining marinade

Prepare Grill.

Place pork on grill rack coated with cooking spray and grill on each side for 8 min or until meat thermometer register 160 degrees (slightly pink)

Cilantro Lime Rice with Black Beans and Onions

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

1 c brown rice

1 bunch of fresh cilantro, finely chopped

1/2 freshly squeezed lime

1 can black beans

1/2 onion coarsely chopped

salt to taste

Preparation

Take olive oil and coat bottom of the bowl in your rice cooker, add the rice and put in 2 1/2 c water (should yield 2 c rice).  After the rice has finished cooking, add the cilantro and lime and stir.  Close the lid back on your rice cooker and let steam for about 15-20 min.

While your rice is steaming, open the black beans and drain half of the juice from the can.  Put beans in a medium sized pot, add your onion and cook on medium high heat.  While beans are cooking take a wooden spoon and slightly mash the beans to give it more texture.  Cook beans for about 10 min or until onions have softened.  

Once everything is done cooking add your beans and onions on top of your rice and you're done!

Steamed Asparagus

Take about 2 handfuls of asparagus and cut off the ends (about an inch).  Lay asparagus on foil, coat with olive oil and season with salt, freshly ground pepper and garlic powder.  Fold foil in half and seal on both sides making a foil pouch.  Place on grill for about 8 min or until tender.  Take off grill and let cool.

Marbeeritas

Ingredients

1/2 c sugar

1 c water

1 c fresh squeezed lime juice

12 fl oz tequila

12 fl oz beer

ice

1 lime, cut into wedges

Preparation

Heat water and sugar in a small sauce pan until completely dissolved and the water is clear.  Let cool.  Pour into a pitcher with lime juice.  Add tequila (we only had wild turkey so we used that instead of tequila and I couldn't even tell the difference!) and beer into the pitcher and stir.  Add plenty of ice and garnish with lime wedges.  Adjust recipe with additional water, if needed.

After writing it out it sounds like a lot of work, but I promise it's not at all!

Let me know if you tried this recipe, how it turned out and if it needed any alterations.

ENJOY!!