My fear with this dish is that people will think it's either secretly complicated, or too simple to be worth trying. I mentioned on Instagram last night that I'm not one for declaring "favorites" with my dishes. I feel like bloggers use the word "favorite" way too often, so using it can come off as ungenuine, which I don't want to be. All that said, I have to declare this my all around favorite grilled dish, because it meets both of my criteria (friggen easy, friggen delicious).
The great thing about pork is you can get tender and juicy cuts often for a fraction of what the corresponding beef cuts cost. For this particular dish, I usually grab a 2-3lb New York loin roast. It costs around $7 and feeds 4-6 people, but definitely doesn't come across as a "bargain dish" on the plate. Here's what you need:
• 1 pork loin roast, 2-3lb
• cooking oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder
• fresh herbs (oregano and rosemary are my favorites)
First and foremost, preheat the grill. While it's heating, cut the loin roast into cubes about 2 inches in size and put the cubed pork, cooking oil, 3-4 good-sized pinches of salt, 3-4 grinds of fresh black pepper, and about 1/2 Tbsp garlic powder into a bowl or zip-top bag and toss to coat. Let sit for 10 minutes.
Grill the pieces of pork until they reach an internal temperature of 145 (below you'll find a link to the meat thermometer I use, as well as a discount code if interested).
While it's grilling, pull the leaves from a couple sprigs of oregano, and the needles from 1 sprig of rosemary. Roughly chop that, and toss it with the pork hot from the grill.
That's it. The title of this post is, quite literally, the recipe - grill the pork, and toss it with fresh herbs. Now I know there will be some of you out there saying, "All you did was grill pork and sprinkle herbs on it. What's the big deal? Anybody can do that." My response to which is, EXACTLY! Anybody can do that. But I'm willing to bet most of you haven't, and I blame food bloggers.
Is anybody else tired of the current demand for complexity? Has anybody else even noticed it? As though you're only credible if you make things unnecessarily difficult. Enough, I say! "Simple" does not mean "boring," and this dish proves you can make great food with so little effort. So yeah, Mrs. (or Mr.) Food Blogger. You keep adding ingredients. Dirty those dishes, and "wow" all your friends who are in the dining room while you slave in the kitchen. I'll be over here enjoying the company, my clean kitchen, and my extra time.
P.S. - my May post for Char-Broil is up! Check it out to learn all about dry rubs, my personal recipe, as well as tips for creating your own. Also, as promised, here is the meat thermometer I use. You can save 15% on everything on charbroil.com (grills, accessories, whatever) by using the code B15CLJ. Cheers!
Grilled Pork Tossed With Fresh Herbs
Ingredients
- 1 pork loin roast 2-3 lbs, cut into 2in cubes
- 1-2 Tbsp cooking oil
- Kosher salt TT
- Fresh cracked pepper TT
- 1/2 Tbsp garlic powder
- 1 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano
- 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
Instructions
- Preheat a grill on medium heat.
- In a zip top bag, toss together the cubed pork, cooking oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Let sit for 10 minutes.
- Grill the pork until each piece reaches an internal temperature of 145. Remove from the grill and immediately toss the hot pork with the chopped herbs.
- You can pretty much serve this with whatever you want, and it'll work.
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Finally tried this recipe. So glad I did! Used rosemary + basil and it was delicious. Love the food posts.
So glad you enjoyed it, Cathie! Basil is one of those herbs that I think is best when only slightly warmed. Tossing with freshly-cooked pork - really great idea.
Made these last night for a group of friends and they were delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Yum! Add a little lemon juice and it's basically a pork souvlaki. I actually use a Boston butt roast seasoned much the same way to make gyros. This looks delicious, and I will definitely give it a go! Thank you so much for taking the time to post!
This looks yummy- I will be trying it tonight. I love the recipes mixed in with the home improvements.
As the working mom of a 3-year-old, I love to see recipes like this! I want to run into the store and grab ingredients quickly, and I want a dish that doesn't take an hour just to prepare while my family sits...and waits...and gets hungrier! Thank you, this looks delicious, I'm going to try it this weekend!
You're so right. So many recipes are so complicated that I don't ever want to try them. Too many odd ingredients that I don't have (or I don't want to buy just for one occasion) or too many steps. This one is definitely easy! I wonder if this is doable on a pan...
Definitely! I would suggest preheating the oven to 375, and use an oven-safe sauté pan on the stove top to sear each side of the meat, then stick it right in the oven to finish cooking. If you have a meat thermometer, you're looking for an internal temperature of 145 when inserted into the thickest part of the thickest piece of meat.
Thanks Chris!
These look great.
As an aside, I'd really like some information about where this blog is going. There hasn't been a DIY post since May 4. There is no indication that one is coming any time soon. I'm probably going to stop clicking every day to check. I started reading this blog (no offense) for the DIY, not the recipes. If the DIY is going to stop, some transparency there would be great. I know that Chris' back is probably interfering, which is totally understandable. If that's the hold up a timeline as to when you think posts will return to normal would be great.
By DIY, do you mean, step by step projects? If that's what you're referring to, we are right in the middle of our laundry room renovation (halted by our florida vacation and my quick trip to NYC) so that should be some indication there's more to come--goodness, I can't wait to get that done! Haha. Chris actually hadn't posted a recipe before this one since January 8th, so we figured it was time--especially since we were getting some requests for him to do so. Nearly every other post is home related--I just scrolled through to double check--yes! Maybe Sometimes they aren't necessarily DIYing something, like my new office I posted last week, but we do hope they are still inspiring.This blog's focus is definitely still on renovating our home ourselves.
I think you missed the point of my post. First, I will specify that by "DIY" I was referring to the design-centric posts (i.e.-not cooking). I guess I should have been clearer. I should say that I've appreciated that your last couple of posts (after the cookbook sneak peak) have been DIY/design based. However, your posting schedule has become very erratic and unpredictable. Your last DIY/design post before this post was May 7. You didn't post another design related post until your sponsored blinds post on May 18th. I did notice that you blogged three days in a row, so maybe you are planning on picking up a more regular schedule again. No one begrudges you a life outside of DIY/design and no one expected you to be tied to your computer. All I was asking for was some transparency on the direction and schedule of the blog. If you are going to be posting less frequently, that would be good information to share with your readers up front. You may blog for fun, but you also blog for the income and perks it brings. That requires some responsibility towards your audience, and the reason for that income and perks.
I do something similar and we often end up cutting up the meat for tacos, it's great! My hands down favorite pork is Boston butt steaks on the grill, for some reason my local grocer doesn't always have them ready, but they're amazing!
I love the printable version of the recipe. I have the oddest compilation of CLJ recipes written on scrap paper, screen shots, or printed on 18 pages of off the web.
Yes, please do share the simple ones! I'm not a cook by any means (my husband does all the cooking in our family, and I do mean "all")but you make me want to learn. I've always enjoyed your food posts.
Silly question here, by cooking oil do you mean vegetable/canola oil or olive oil? Thanks for the recipe!
Any oil you feel comfortable using that has a high smoke point (meaning it doesn't burn easily). Extra virgin olive oil isn't a good "cooking" oil because it is very fruity and burns quite easily. But you could use light olive oil just fine. I typically use canola.