It’s amazing how a single glance at an old photograph can bring back a flood of memories.
A friend recently fired over some scans of old snapshots taken during our Salt Lake years in and around what I called ‘the boat shop’, which in the cold light of day was just a shoddily constructed one-car garage outbuilding in our backyard.
That shop bore a number of nifty wooden creations, including the first wooden drifter we slapped together one late spring and summer.
Our kids (now 24 and 25) were mere midgets, one and two at the time, and in some of the pics (focusing on the drift boat) the oldest (now Fire Girl Photography’s Jess) can be seen carrying around a nearly empty bag of dried apricots.
Those apricots had been used to make this very recipe, a standby back in that day, as I could work on the recipe for a bit, head back to the shop for a task or two and then back to the kitchen or grill.
We’ve been enjoying this recipe for the better part of three decades now in particular due to its deep apricot flavor and Asian-fusion spice highlights. Ginger is powerful medicine around our camp and the ginger combined with a touch of heat from the chile sauce will keep you coming back to this one again and again.
2 pork tenderloins, trimmed of silverskin and fat
12 ounces (1.5 cups) apricot nectar
15 dried apricots
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup water
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup ginger, minced
1 tsp. salt
1-2 tbsp. Asian chile sauce
3 green onions, minced
1/3 cup cilantro, minced
2 tbsp. white sesame seeds, toasted
Start the glaze. Combine the apricot nectar, apricots, sugar, vinegar, water, garlic, salt and chile sauce in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduced to simmer and cover for 30 minutes. Cool to room temperature then puree until smooth.
Fire the grill and set the tenderloins out to come to room temperature.
Finish the glaze. Pour into a bowl and stir in the minced green onions, cilantro and sesame seeds.
Grill it up. We like to dust the tenderloin with a light rub of 1 tsp. coarse salt, 1 tsp. sweet paprika, 1 tsp. fresh ground pepper and 1 tsp. of granulated garlic; you can just grill it straight up if desired.
Pending on how hot your fire is, you’re probably in for a 20-25 minute cook here; brush with a bit of the glaze during the final 5 minutes or so.
[Tastes (and precautionary sensibilities) vary, though we’d argue pork tenderloin should be unquestionably pink in the middle coming off the grill and rested for 5 minutes before slicing. ]
Serve. Ladle a dollop of the glaze / sauce onto a plate, top with the tenderloin medallions and more glaze. You need a big pile of caribbean style rice to soak up all that apricot-ginger goodness.
Enjoy.
