pork + fruit

the best thing about summer, in my humble opinion, is the abundance of delicious fresh fruits available. when i saw cooking light's recipe section on fruity summer recipes, i couldn't resist test driving a couple. i decided to try two recipes that paired fruit with pork, a meat i revere above all others and is good for grilling. the integration of fruit into a main dish was similar in both recipes.

the first was grilled pork chops with two-melon salsa.
salsa:
1 cup chopped seedless watermelon
1 cup chopped honeydew melon
3 tbsp finely chopped sweet onion (i used vidalia)
1 tbsp finely chopped jalapeno pepper
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 tbsp fresh lime juice

1/8 tsp saltthe pork chops were brushed with a mix of olive oil, chili powder, minced garlic, salt, and black pepper (i don't really measure these things) and grilled.

i considered this the more successful of the two recipes. the marriage of melon and meat was satisfying, with the cool juciness of the melon complementing the pork. the salsa could also stand on its own.

ta-da

the second was brined pork tenderloin with plum and jicama relish. the tenderloin was brined for 1 hour prior to grilling in 1/2 cup kosher salt dissolved in 8 cups cold water. it was only sprinkled with pepper post-brine.

relish:

black pepper

1&1/2 cups diced plums

3/4 cups finely chopped jicama

1/2 cup finely chopped red onion

2 tsp grated lime rind

2 tbsp fresh lime juice

1 tbsp honey

kosher salt

1 serrano chile, seeded and chopped

very pretty, but without substance

this combination was less delightful, although as fruit goes i prefer plums to melon. the best part of this dish was the brined pork tenderloin, which was very tender and had a great flavor. as for the relish, i felt the textures of the jicama and plum were at odds with each other. and this is my fault (because of course i didn't measure), but the jicama to plum ratio was too large. rather than this being a cohesive entree, it seemed cacophonous.

important to note, neither salsa nor relish was very tasty the next day after a night of marinating in the fridge. the flavors became too tart.