The sun is back!  It is an absolutely beautiful day.  A good day for removing dandelions for my little corner of the world.  Yes I know there are sprays….I’m not a spray person.  I like being outside and hearing the birds, smelling the earth and watching the tiny creatures that scurry around when you show up.  It’s also good exercise.  Why pay for a gym when you can get a great yard instead?  I like my sweat to count for something more than just calories.  Part of getting older is staying as active as I can.

Getting older means that I’ve also noticed that salt in my diet is also making itself more of a problem.  I used to eat Chinese food, no problem.  Now if I do, I have trouble taking my rings off at the end of the day.  There was a pork dish that I loved to make that had a great marinade/sauce with it.  Problem is every ingredient in it (practically) was full of salt.  When we ate it, I loved it…..until later that evening and the salt thirst and the swelling began.  I knew I needed to find other ways to enjoy grilled pork.

I came up with a marinade that was much lower in salt and a sauce with just a touch of soy sauce.  Bright citrus flavors and a touch of heat with herbs and garlic chives give it great flavor.  You may choose to sprinkle a little salt on when you eat it, but that’s OK.  Its still a lot less than what other prep methods would have fed you.

You’ll need:

2 lb of pork loin, sliced 1/2 inch thick

For the marinade…

4 cloves of garlic, peeled and pressed (or finely minced)

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup olive oil

1 1/2 Tbs jalapeno mustard (or other spicy mustard)

1  1/2 Tbs coriander chutney (spicy condiment for middle east grocery)

Combine marinade ingredients.  Place sliced pork in a  gallon size zip close plastic bag.  Pour marinade over meat.  Close bag after displacing as much air as possible.

Place bag in refrigerator and let marinade for 1-4 hours.  One hour before grilling, remove bag from cold and thread pork through metal skewers and place in large shallow pan.  Allow it to set until pork has been at room temperature for one hour.

While your waiting, prepare the sauce….

In your food processor, place one cup of fresh clementine sections and process until smooth.  Add  1/2 cup of fresh cilantro and a good spoonful of garlic chili sauce (or your favorite spicy Asian sauce) and about 1 Tbs of soy sauce.  Pulse processor until cilantro is in small pieces but not completely smooth.  Set aside.  Finely slice some green onions or I like to use garlic chives.

Time to fire up the grill.  I always oil my grates while still cold using grape seed oil.  It’s tasteless and takes high temps well.

Heat the grill to medium high and grill skewers for 3-4 minutes on each side, until just done.

Serve 2-3 slices at a time with several spoonfuls of sauce and a sprinkle of onion/chives.  Enjoy!