Four Burners And A Trip To The Island

Every day begins at 5:30am.  Hustle kids to seminary, hustle kids back, hustle kids to school, receive an obligatory kiss from the wife as she heads off to work.  And, before you know it, it’s 8:30a.m. and I am off on a new adventure at home, alone, again, at home.

With several hours ahead of me (again) and nothing else to do (again), I put my thoughts to dinner.  Doesn’t everyone? 

Gazing out the window pondering my loneliness, my eyes of depression saw the lush green gardens of the encroaching backyard.  Palms and ferns brushed against the window as the wind and rain dance across their fronds. As the house grew darker when heavier clouds blew in, it reminded me of the many trips I took to the Islands. Memories danced as I was fondly reminded of people, the smells and fragrances and taste of the isolated civilizations I have visited. Before I knew it I was on another excursion; this time to the Kitchen Islands.

After a gentle embrace and I love you to the oven, I reach for the door of the fridge. And there it was, a fresh kill just waiting for me to prepare it for the tribe I so graciously reported to earlier that day. Okay, not so fresh since it was a “Buy One, Get One Free” pork loin I purchased on discount yesterday. But for adventures sake, stick with me J because that day I created Mango Coconut Pork.

MANGO COCONUT PORK

3-4lb    Pork Loin (the other white meat)

2 foot  Butcher Block paper or 1 large banana leaf

4T        Sweet Mesquite Seasoning

4T        Olive Oil

1/2T     Pepper

1/2T     Salt

4 ft      Kitchen twine (cotton string)

1can     Coconut Milk

2          Mangos (cut in to pieces)

1          Pineapple (cut in to chunks)

2T        Crushed Juniper Berries

¼ t       Pepper Flakes

¼ t       Sage

¼ t       All Whole Spice

1 T       Basil

2T        Red Wine Vinegar

This is an 8 hour slow cooking dinner. Heat oven to 225^o.

Wash and dry the pork.  Rub in salt, pepper and sweet mesquite seasoning. Place the pork at one corner of the butcher block paper and roll tightly folding in edges.  With a banana leaf, start at the stem end and roll folding in the edges.  Wrap twine tightly around the packaged pork loin. It should incircle the package on all sides.

Place package pork loin in a roasting pan and put in to the oven.

In another roasting pan, add all other ingredients and slow cook alongside the pork for 8 hours. 

When done, open the pork in the pan it was roasting in. Shred pork and toss with any remaining drippings from the cooked pork.

In the other pan, puree all the ingredients. Serve pork over rice and top with the pureed mixture.