WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Grill-charred tomatoes, scallions, and lemons make a quick relish that explodes with pungent, sweet-tart flavors. Best of all, these items cook on the grill right alongside the pork skewers. Compared with beef and chicken, pork skewers get little love from grillers. Without the right ingredients and techniques, both the texture and the flavor of the meat tend to be unsatisfactory. For moist, flavorful pork, we turned to boneless country-style ribs, which are quick-cooking and tender yet have enough fat to keep them from drying out. A flavorful spice rub of garlic, coriander, cumin, nutmeg, cinnamon, and lemon did triple duty: first in a marinade, later in a basting sauce, and again as part of the tomato relish. These skewers offer an easy, flavorful addition to your grilling options for any night of the week. You will need seven 12-inch metal skewers for this recipe.
SERVES: 4 to 6
TOTAL TIME: 50 minutes (plus 30 minutes marinating time)
INGREDIENTS:
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 2 lemons (1 grated to yield 1 teaspoon zest), halved
- 5 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- Salt and pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 pounds boneless country-style pork ribs, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 12 ounces cherry tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 6 scallions
INSTRUCTIONS
- MARINATE PORK:
Whisk oil, lemon zest, garlic, coriander, cumin, 1½ teaspoons salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, nutmeg, and cinnamon together in a large bowl. Measure out and reserve 2 tablespoons marinade. Add pork to the remaining marinade and toss to coat. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 24 hours.
- PREPARE SKEWERS:
Remove pork from marinade and thread onto four 12-inch metal skewers so pieces are touching. Discard any remaining used marinade. Thread tomatoes onto three 12-inch metal skewers.
- PREPARE HONEY MIXTURE:
Combine honey, butter, and reserved marinade in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until butter is melted and mixture is fragrant, about 1 minute. Divide honey mixture evenly between 2 bowls.
- PREHEAT GRILL:
For a charcoal grill: Open bottom vent completely. Light a large chimney starter filled with charcoal briquettes (6 quarts). When top coals are partially covered with ash, pour evenly over grill. Set cooking grate in place, cover, and open lid vent completely. Heat grill until hot, about 5 minutes.
For a gas grill: Turn all burners to high, cover, and heat grill until hot, about 15 minutes. Turn all burners to medium.
- GRILL:
Clean and oil cooking grate. Place scallions, pork skewers, tomato skewers, and lemon halves, cut side down, on the grill. Cook pork (covered if using gas), turning every 2 minutes and basting with honey mixture reserved for grilling, until pork registers 145 degrees, 12 to 15 minutes. Cook tomatoes, scallions, and lemon halves until charred, turning scallions and tomatoes as needed to brown evenly, 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer items to a serving platter as they finish grilling.
- MAKE TOMATO RELISH:
Tent pork with aluminum foil and let rest while preparing tomato relish. Slide tomatoes from skewers into a large bowl. Chop scallions and add to tomatoes along with honey mixture reserved for sauce; squeeze lemon halves into tomato mixture. Using a potato masher, coarsely mash tomato mixture. Add any accumulated pork juices. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- SERVE:
Serve tomato relish with grilled pork skewers
