Orange Marinated Pork with Sesame Wilted Kale

All good things must come to end. After looking forward to a week and a half off work it came and went quicker than I would like. It’s interesting how much you can accomplish with your time one day, and others it’s a victory if I made it out of my pajamas before 2 pm! I did a lot of organizing and decorating our place after taking down Christmas decor. Spending time with family had to be the best part of my staycation. I also said “yes to the dress”, and had a great time with my mom and sisters trying on all sorts of beautiful dresses.

Although I didn’t cross out everything on my to-do list I did accomplish quite a bit which makes going back to work a little easier. Lucky for me I’m headed to LA for business, leaving behind negative temperatures and snow for 75 degree weather!

(This definitely does not resemble the Midwest!)

Last week I was looking for a good marinade for pork tenderloin and did the traditional “dump anything I needed to get rid of” method and it turned out so good that I made it again last night. It had soy sauce, orange juice, garlic, ginger, lime juice, Sriracha… all good stuff. It was so flavorful and I used the marinade to make a rich sauce to pour over the sliced pork. Yum!

I served this with a side of wilted sesame kale and brown rice which made this feel very light and healthy! Here’s the recipe:

In a large storage bag combine 3 cloves of minced garlic, 2 Tbl minced ginger, zest and juice of 1 lime, 2 Tbl rice wine vinegar, 1 Tbl chili garlic sauce, 1-2 tsp Sriracha, 2 tsp Worcestershire, 1/2 cup soy sauce (low sodium), 1/2 cup orange juice, 2 Tbl packed brown sugar, and 1 tsp black pepper.

Zip up the bag and massage with your hands to dissolve the brown sugar. I love making marinades in a bag because it’s easy cleanup!

Trim off any excess fat and silver skin from the pork tenderloins. I had 2 tenderloins that weighed a little over a pound each.

Add the pork to the bag and marinate for up to about 8 hours and as little as 30 minutes. I kept mine out at room temperature to marinate for about an hour.

Remove the pork and pat dry on a few sheets of paper towel and roast on a foil-lined baking sheet at 425 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour the marinade into a small pot and boil for about 10 minutes to kill off any bacteria from the pork. This reduces into a thick sauce that concentrates all of those wonderful flavors but use sparingly-this is spicy and salty!

When the pork is done let it rest on a cutting board for about 8-10 minutes and slice to your desire of thickness. I served this with brown rice and lightly sautéed kale seasoned with sesame oil and sesame seeds.