One Craving = Three Dish Inspirations

We had grilled kabobs with steak, pork, peppers, onions, and pineapple the other day... which led to a conversation about how good grilled pineapple was. That got me thinking - it had been a LONG time since I had a sandwich with grilled pineapple on it. It had sounded horrible to me when I first heard about it, but once I tried it I realized it was SOOOOO good. This even led to me being willing to try it on pizza - but that's another story all together :)

With grilled pineapple on the brain, I decided I would toss a marinade together for some chicken to grill and top with grilled pineapple in a sandwich.

I don't know why but I decided to use coconut milk in the marinade - and I must admit, much like my first time trying grilled pineapple, I was pleasantly surprised. So much so, that I used the rest of the coconut milk in another marinade. Granted - it was a very simple and lazy marinade that used up the rest of my coconut milk and another ingredient I had left over from a recipe a few days before. Since both were semi used - I am listing the ingredients as whole since if both cans had been full it would've evened out.

Along with resulting in a second marinade, this first recipe idea - as a result of being inspired by grilled pineapple - created another pineapple dish.

So today, I share with you three different creations - all of which came from one simple desire to try grilled pineapple again :)


Jalapeno Coconut Chicken Sandwich

Marinade:
2                      Jalapenos
3/4    Cup        Coconut Milk
3       Tbl         Oil
2       Tbl         Soy
1       Tbl         Lime Juice
1       Tbl         Brown Sugar (packed)
1        tsp         Cumin
1        tsp         Salt
1/2     tsp         Chili Powder

Put all marinade ingredients in a gallon sized ziplock bag along with 4 chicken breasts. Allow to marinate overnight.

When you're ready you'll need a few more ingredients:

4                      Buns

4     slices        Provolone or Pepper Jack Cheese (depending on if you want some extra spice)
4     rings         Pineapple

Grill your chicken and pineapple rings - while your chicken is almost done, top with your slice of cheese so that it melts onto your chicken.

Place chicken and a ring of pineapple on a bun and enjoy your sandwich :)

My husband flipped these a little much and didn't get many of those beautiful grill marks I love, but the flavor was great! And the chicken wasn't over cooked, so he did good :) My only critique of this sandwich is that it looks too blah - it needs a splash of color... what that is, I don't know because I loved the flavor as it was.


Pineapple Cooked Pork Tenderloin

The proportions here really all depend on the size of your pineapple - so I don't really have measurements for you - but this will all make sense soon :)

For the recipe above I used fresh pineapple - as a result, I had a hallowed out pineapple shell. This is what I used to cook my pork tenderloin in.

So take your pork tenderloin (ours was just shy of 2 lbs) and seasons it as desired - we did salt, pepper, and jerk seasoning. Rub your tenderloin with your herbs and spices and then stuff into the hallowed out pineapple.

We also added a few rings of pineapple on top of the pork tenderloin so that it'd be covered in pineapple. Then we inserted the thermometer and wrapped the pineapple in foil.

We cooked it at 375 degrees F until our thermometer said 170. Then took it out of the oven and let it rest 10 minutes before slicing.

Essentially your pork ends up being cooked in seasoned pineapple juice.

The pork you get - is wonderfully moist and tender (though yes, I know - tenderloin often is) and has wonderful flavor! The pineapple does give it a slightly sweet flavor so choose bold flavors to season it with - unless you want it really sweet :)

Tangy Coconut Marinade

1       Can        Coconut Milk (13.5 oz)

1       Can        Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce (7 oz)

Put marinade ingredients in a gallon sized ziplock bag along with 4 chicken breasts. I also chopped the peppers into large chunks figuring it may give more flavor than leaving them whole. Allow to marinate overnight.

*sorry, no photo of the marinade*

Cook as desired - again, we grilled and got a little better with the grill marks this time :)

While this marinade was totally a result of being lazy and wanting to find a use for two left over ingredients - it was actually incredibly good. It was super simple and the flavor was perfect! Nothing seemed to be missing, it wasn't too spicy or too sweet... it was perfect.