Tasty Tuesday – Pork Skewers with Pineapple-Scallion Rice

Hello, hello!

Welcome to the jungle Tasty Tuesday!

For more food awesomeness, make sure you head over to Lean Lena for her Curried Chicken with Vegetables recipe (OM NOM NOM!!) and see what other goodies bloggers are linking up! 🙂

Today, I’m bringing you a blast from the past. My blogging past that is. Not some retro Betty Crocker recipe. 🙂

Before I was A Hungry Runner, I blogged at The Connoisseur Chronicles (holy cow, what was I thinking with THAT name?!) and briefly at Cooking with JenS.

This one is from my brief stint at Cooking with JenS. Enjoy!

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So, I get the Rachael Ray magazine and, mostly, I just page through it but sometimes I come across a recipe that strikes my interest.  She isn’t really the most health conscious of the celebrity chefs (but, of course, she’s no Paula Deen!) and I have to look pretty hard to find a recipe that both strikes my interest and I can manipulate, if necessary.  Sometimes though, I find good ones that serve another purpose besides feeding the family – keeping money in my wallet! (always an excellent thing in my book!)

Rachael (like we’re on a first name basis or something) has this section in her mag where the recipe cost comes in under $10 and would feed a family of four.  That’s pretty nice in today’s tight economy but, hello, groceries are expensive, right?  Well, this one pretty much keeps its promise and delivers a tasty meal to your table.  Pork skewers with pineapple-scallion rice.  How does that sound?  Well, the first thing I think is that it sounds kinda time consuming and maybe a little difficult.  But, don’t fret!  It’s actually pretty easy and the hardest part is finding something to do while the pork and scallions are marinating!  Okay, maybe that’s not the hardest part but, it made sense when I typed it.

Alright, anyway, super easy and her grocery receipt (just for these ingredients) totaled $9.96.  Mine was pretty close – depends on where you shop and if you buy store or name brand items.  Of course, this recipe calls for soy sauce and if you don’t have any in your fridge, well, your grocery total will likely go over $10.  Her total was based on the amount of soy sauce used and, as far as I know, most people have soy sauce already or, if you don’t, you should really get some anyway.  There were only 2 things I had to buy to make this dinner and that was the pork loin and some fresh ginger.  Um, no, do not use powdered ginger.  Not the same result.

So, basically, you marinate the pork and the scallions, thread the skewers, and then grill.  Make the rice on the stove, throw out some extra veggies (salad, steamed broccoli, steamed green beans, whatever floats your vegetable-loving boat), and dinner’s on the table in less than an hour.  No, sorry, this isn’t a 30-minute meal but it’s still super doable on a busy work night.  Put the kids and/or hubby to work!  Someone can chop the pork and scallions while you make the marinade.  Family dinners are WAY more fun when everyone is involved anyway.  Of course, if you can’t get them involved, have a nice glass of wine and some music playing and pretend.  It’s almost the same.  Just don’t talk out loud to yourself.  Bad idea. 🙂

Anyway, here’s the recipe and it’s a keeper.  Happy cooking, eating, and drinking!

Pork Skewers with Pineapple-Scallion Rice
recipe adapted from the Rachael Ray mag

One 20-ounce can of pineapple chunks in their juice, drained and juice reserved
1 clove garlic, smashed
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (I subbed olive without any taste discrepancy. I’m sure you could use coconut oil if that’s what you want.)
Salt and pepper
1 1/4 pounds pork loin, cut into 1-inch cubes
4 scallions, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups long-grain white rice

1. In a resealable plastic ziptop bag, combine the pineapple juice, garlic, soy sauce, ginger, and oil; season with salt and pepper. Add the pork and scallions and let marinate at room temperature for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat grill to medium-high. In a medium saucepan, bring 1 3/4 cup salted water to a boil. Add the rice, cover and cook over low heat for 18 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, thread the marinated pork and two-thirds of the pineapple chunks onto four 10-inch skewers and the marinated scallions onto one 10-inch skewer.

Grill the kebabs, turning occasionally, until golden and cooked through, 10 to 12 minutes.

4. Coarsely chop the remaining pineapple chunks and stir into the cooked rice. Remove the grilled scallions from the skewer and stir into the rice. Serve the pork kebabs with the pineapple-scallion rice.

Serves 4 (well, maybe the pork and pineapple could serve 4 (I had 5 skewers full) but we have leftover rice and Thing 2 REALLY, REALLY, REALLY LOVES rice.)

No calorie/fat information. That’s the downside of a Rachael Ray recipe – you have to guess. But, this is really light on fat and high on protein. I recommend low-sodium soy sauce just to keep those numbers down. The rice? Well, yep, that does add carbs. Sorry. You know, carbs are not the enemy. Just don’t eat the whole bowl of rice. 🙂

Talk to me: Do you love skewer recipes? Do you call them shish-kebabs or kebabs instead of skewers? Am I the only one that thinks ‘skewer’ is a funny word?