One of my favorite time saving appliances for summer is my gas grill. The dinner possibilities are endless, and I’ve found that I can grill complete meals without heating up my kitchen; another bonus is that there seems to be less cleanup when I use my grill.

This Asian dinner is Quick and easy, healthy, eye-appealing, and most importantly, delicious! Pork tenderloin is not only one of the easiest meats to grill, it cooks fast, is economical, and the results are always tender and juicy. For this menu, I’ve used my favorite Asian Ginger Sesame Marinade for both the meat and the vegetable kabobs. Prep time is minimal, since the marinade can be put together in just a few minutes. While it’s most convenient for me to do the prep the night before, I have also done it in the morning before leaving for work and I find it takes less than 20 minutes.

If you want Asian rice as an accompaniment, it can be accomplished with 10 minutes or less prep in your timesaving rice cooker. If you already have leftover rice, you can prepare Quick Ham Fried Rice in your wok either on your grill or on your stove while the meat is cooking. You can also use part of the Basic Pork Module to prepare Quick Pork Fried Rice. I have included links to those recipes at the bottom of this article.

Asian Ginger Sesame Pork and Vegetables

  Marinade
2 cloves garlic
2 slices fresh ginger, (large quarter size, about 1/4" thick)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 cup dry white wine, or dry sherry
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
 
2 pork tenderloins, about 1 pound each (usually both come in one package), trimmed of any fat
 
2 medium zucchini, cut into 1” slices
2 medium yellow summer squash, cut into 1” slices
1 medium onion, quartered
6 large mushrooms
1 medium green pepper, cut into 2” squares
2 Roma Tomatoes, quartered

Prepare the marinade: Place the garlic and ginger in the blender container and pulse until chopped. Add the remaining ingredients and blend. Reserve 1/3 cup of the marinade for brushing the vegetables.
 
Place the pork tenderloins in a shallow glass dish; poke a few holes in each one with a fork, then pour the remaining marinade over. Cover and refrigerate 4-8 hours (or longer if necessary), turning once.
 
Bring a pot of water to a boil; add 1 tablespoon salt. Add the zucchini and cook 1 minute; remove with a slotted spoon or wire strainer; continue with the yellow squash, the onion, mushrooms, and green pepper (the tomatoes don’t need to be blanched). Thread the vegetables on skewers and set aside. This step can be done the night before if you like.
 
Heat the gas grill to high, then turn down to low on one side and place the pork tenderloin on the grill; turn the other side to medium and place the skewer frame on the grill, then the skewers on the frame. Brush the vegetables liberally with the marinade. Shut the grill lid.
 
Let the tenderloin cook 10 minutes, then turn. At the same time, turn the vegetables and brush again with the marinade. Continue cooking the tenderloin (grill lid closed) until a meat thermometer registers 150 ° in the thickest part of the meat; remove from the heat to a plate, cover loosely with foil and let sit 10-15 minutes before slicing.
 
Continue cooking the vegetables until crisp tender, 5-10 minutes more.  Remove them to a serving plate.
 
Note: My brother-in-law Shawn has the art of grilling pork tenderloin down to a science. He suggests that when grilling pork tenderloin, if one side is much larger than the other, butterfly the part that is thickest, so that the entire piece cooks evenly.