Pinchos Morunos - Spanish Pork Skewers

I do like Spanish food and Spain is definitely one of my favourite countries to visit.    In fact, I used to go there every year as a child and so it is the country I have visited the most often.   I’ve always liked the food but didn’t like tapas as a child as I wanted to choose my favourite dish and eat all of it.  Nowadays, I love sharing tapas meals as it’s a chance to try lots of different dishes as well as to eat my favourite – Spanish croquettes.  I love the creaminess on the inside and the crunchiness of the outside.  When I last went to Spain, in November, I ate croquettes about 5 times in just one week.  There were some disappointments though, such as the ones which were frozen in the middle, I sent them back and they were still frozen the second time they came out.  They also forgot one of our dishes, which we decided was probably just as well.    I was also incredibly disappointed once to go to a tapas restaurant in Edinburgh, order croquettes and be given potato ones.  Of course, I like potato ones as well, but they are not Spanish.  So, if I like croquettes so much, why is this post supposedly about pinchos morunos?   Well, I wanted to make a dish for Vanilla Clouds and Lemon Drops’ Sweet Heat Challenge, this month hosted by Janice at Farmersgirl Kitchen.  I needed to make a spicy dish, and as lovely as croquettes are, they are not spicy.  I could have made spicy ones – cheese and jalapeno croquettes would surely be delicious, but the truth is, I just didn’t think of that until it was too late.

So, I decided to make pinchos morunos.   Little skewers of marinated meat are a very popular tapas dish and this is one of the most well-known.  I know, you’ve looked at the picture and are thinking – those are not little skewers of meat! That is not a tapa.  Admittedly, that’s a fair point.  I just happened to make mine a little bit bigger.   Well, I didn’t have any small skewers, and I didn’t want to make lots of small dishes just for two people.  But, I could have so easily made the exact same recipe, plus a few more tapas dishes, served the pork on small skewers and it would have been a great tapas meal.   Instead, I made Spanish rice as a side dish and served the pork on a bed of spinach.  The recipe served two of us, plus enough for leftovers for my lunch the next day.

Ingredients

400g pork tenderloin, diced

1tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp dried parsley

1 pinch of saffron

1 clove of garlic, crushed

2 tbsp lemon juice

4 tbsp olive oil

How to make Pinchos Morunos

1. In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients except the pork.   Taste and adjust anything if necessary.

2. Add the pork and stir well so the marinate coats all the pieces of meat.   Put in the fridge for at least 4 hours.

3. Before cooking, thread the meat onto skewers and cook on a griddle pan, grill, or put in the oven.

4. Serve as a main meal or as part of a selection of tapas.

 

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