Grilled Pork with Spicy Chimichurri Sauce

Man it's so crazy how fast the weekends go by - it always seems like it's Sunday night again, time to get ready for another week. This weekend, Michael and I went to Morganton and ran a race with my parents (Michael's first 5K ever and he got 2nd place in his age group!) then headed up to Blowing Rock to see his parents for a night. It's so pretty up there & perfect weather! I'm already ready to go back.



Anyways, this pork tenderloin is hands-down the best I've ever had. I've been wanting to try chimichurri sauce for a while & finally got around to it. It sure uses a lot of garlic, cilantro and parsley! It tastes delicious though. We got the recipe from Our Best Bites - a great food blog Michael recently discovered. As a heads up, you need to marinate it for an hour & you also need a meat thermometer to make sure the pork gets nice and done. We grilled up some corn and red pepper to go along with the pork. If you've never had chimichurri, I highly recommend it. You could probably serve it with any meat. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2-3 lb pork tenderloin (2 small-med pork loins)
• 1 1/2 cup chopped parsley
• 1 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 4 tsp dried oregano leaves
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 3 tbsp chopped garlic (6-7 cloves)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions

1. Place pork tenderloins in a ziplock bag and set aside.
2. Place parsley, cilantro, oregano, lime juice, vinegar, garlic, salt, and pepper in a food processor. Pulse several times until finely chopped. Remove mixture and place in a bowl. Add red pepper flakes and then stir in olive oil by hand.
3. Remove 1/2-3/4 cup chimichurri (the herb mixture you just made) and place in bag with pork tenderloins. You just need enough to coat them well. Be careful to not cross-contaminate since you will be serving the remaining chimichurri over the top of the finished meat. Seal bag and set aside to marinade for about an hour or longer if you need to. Place plastic wrap over the remaining chimichurri and set aside until ready to serve.
4. When ready to cook, preheat grill. Remove tenderloins from bag and let excess marinade drip off. Place on grill and cook for about 5-8 minutes before flipping to the other side.
   
5. You want the internal temp to be about 160 degrees, so check with a thermometer and take it off the grill when it reaches 155-158 since it will continue to cook a bit as it sits.
   
6. Remove from grill and let stand 5 minutes before cutting. Slice, and serve with remaining chimichurri drizzled on top.