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Spanish Pork Skewers

5.0(457)

For casual entertaining, the tapas experience translates well to the small home kitchen. One delicious hot tapas classic easily made at home is called pinchos Moruños, or Moorish skewers, essentially small kebabs of pork marinated in Arabic (Moorish) spices and grilled, usually on a hot steel plancha. Because most Muslim Arabs wouldn’t eat pork, one presumes the original dish was lamb. It’s anyone’s guess how it evolved into this ubiquitous tapa selection in Christian Spain. Nevertheless, now it means pork seasoned with garlic, cumin, coriander, pimentón and sometimes oregano. Once skewered, they need only about 5 minutes on a hot griddle.

by David Tanis

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SpanishQuick, Appetizer

Servings

12 small skewers

Total time

20 min

Calories / serving

92 kcal

Ingredients (10)

serves

1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin, in half-inch slices
Saltsalt
pepperpepper
2 teaspoons cumin seeds, lightly toasted and groundcumin
2 teaspoons coriander seeds, lightly toasted and groundcoriander
1/2 teaspoon pimentón, sweet or hot
1/2 teaspoon dried oreganooregano
2 garlic clovesgarlic
2 tablespoons olive oilolive-oil
Lemon wedgeslemon

Instructions (3 steps)

01Thread the pork onto 12 bamboo skewers. Season lightly on both sides with salt and pepper.
02Sprinkle the skewers with the cumin, coriander, pimentón and oregano. Smash the garlic cloves to a paste with a little salt, mix in the olive oil and drizzle over the meat. Rub the seasoning in with your fingers. The skewers can be refrigerated until ready to cook, up to several hours.
03Place a large cast-iron skillet or griddle over medium-high heat until nearly smoking. Cook the skewers about 3 minutes on each side, until nicely browned. Serve hot, with lemon wedges.

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