Thursday

Pork 'Moruno' Kebabs

I have always been drawn towards Spanish cuisine, however I've been particularly gastronomically inspired over the last few months following a couple of trips to Spain.  With flavours that are quite simple but punchy, fresh with the occasional touch of spice, this is food packed with passion.
These juicy, flavourful kebabs can also be made with chicken and are known as Pinchos Morunos or Pinchitos in Spain.  They can be served on little skewers as a tapas dish or packed tightly onto long skewers and served with a salad and maybe some rice or potatoes for a main course.
They are perfect cooked on the barbecue but are also great cooked in a griddle pan or under a hot grill.  Please do try this, it is a fantastically tasty way to cook pork and the flavours will blow your socks off, I promise!

Feel free to reduce the amount of salt if you want to however it is a traditional and integral element of the marinade, so please don't leave it out completely. Do be aware that the meat requires a long marinating time, preferably overnight. 


Makes 5-6 Long Kebabs

Ingredients
1 Pork Tenderloin/Fillet, approx. 500g
3 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 tablespoon Pimenton de la Vera Dulce (Smoked Sweet Paprika)
2 teaspoons Salt
Several generous grindings of Black Pepper
Half a teaspoon of Ground Cumin
Half a teaspoon of Ground Coriander
Juice of 1 Large Lemon
4-5 Cloves of Garlic, minced
Approx. 1 tablespoon of chopped Fresh Thyme leaves
Approx. 1 tablespoon of chopped Fresh Parsley
  • Cut the pork fillet into cubes approximately 1 inch square.
  • Mix all the ingredients for the marinade together in a bowl then tip in the cubes of pork.  Stir it and mix it around to thoroughly coat the pork then cover and chill in the fridge for (ideally) 8 or more hours.
  • When you are ready to cook the pork, thread the cubes of meat onto metal or wooden skewers (if you are using wooden skewers make sure you soak them in warm water first), packing them together.
  • Cook the kebabs for 15 to 20 minutes on a hot barbecue, griddle pan or under a hot grill, turning them regularly.  If you are doing smaller skewers as a starter or tapa/canapĂ© they will not take as long.
  • Serve as soon as they are cooked, eaten deliciously straight from the skewer.