Grilling season is opening up across the country and it is a wonderful time to be cooking in the great outdoors. And what better way to kick off the season than to try something different?

The California Raisin Board is constantly looking to find different ways to get raisins into people’s diets, even in savory applications. They asked me to check out their Raisin Chipotle Grilling Sauce to see what I thought of it and while I certainly was intrigued it really wasn’t a flavor combination that I’d necessarily seek out for myself. However, I knew that this would be right up my wife’s alley, so I agreed to craft a dish.

When it comes to grilling burgers are my thing, yet that wasn’t the right protein to pair with it. Instead, I chose to use a pork tenderloin because it is lean and cooks quickly, which was important because there are a lot of sugars in the sauce that could caramelize very quickly. And while a good char is nice, carbon deposits on meat aren’t.

I cooked the meat about two thirds of the way after applying some olive oil and a little salt, then I slathered on the sauce with about five minutes left to go.  The sauce was nice and thick and stuck to the tenderloin well during cooking.

The next decision points were to figure out what I would serve with it. While I was out shopping for the ingredients to make the sauce I saw some nice plantains that I thought would be perfect grilled. I sliced them on the bias to give them a larger surface area, tossed them in some olive oil and hit them with a pinch of sea salt before putting them on the grill.

Finally, I wanted something that would have a cooling effect and bring a little crunch to add some balance to heat from the sauce. The first thing that came to mind was the honey cilantro slaw that I wrote about a while back. I used a combination of Napa and red cabbage to add some color to the dish and used some creme fraiche I had on hand instead of mayonnaise. Since I over did it a bit with the chipotles in the sauce, at least for my tastes, the sweetness and texture from the slaw made the whole thing much more enjoyable.

As I suspected my wife loved it and was eager for me to make it again the next night.

Here is the recipe if you are interested in giving it a try and be sure to continue on after it for a chance to win a set of grilling tools courtesy of the California Raisin Board.

Raisin Chipotle Grilling Sauce

recipe courtesy of the California Raisin Board

Software

1 cup prepared barbecue sauce
1-1/2 cup California raisins
1 cup husked and chopped tomatillos
1/2 cup lime juice
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup chopped onions
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 to 2 chipotle chiles, canned in adobo, minced, and sauce, to taste

Assemblage

Combine ingredients in small saucepan; cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Let cool. Then, puree in blender or food processor.

California Raisins Grilling Kit Giveaway

The California Raisin Board has generously offered up a free grilling kit to one Digital Dads reader. This includes a 17 piece Chefmate grill tool set contains a spatula, tongs, grill brush/scraper, 4 skewers, 8 corn holders and a digital thermometer, as well as a Kitchen Aid sauce pot and brush. So, if you’re grilling tools have seen better days and you want to start the season fresh, then here’s how you can enter between now and Friday, June 3, 2011 at 11:59pm EST.

• Leave a comment and tell us what is your favorite thing to grill (1 entry)*
• Subscribe to the Digital Dads feed and leave a comment (1 entry)*
• Follow Digital Dads on Twitter and leave a comment (1 entry)*
• Calculate the number of unladen European swallows necessary to carry a one pound coconut and show your work in the comment section (100 entries)*
• Solve the NFL Labor crisis by the end of this contest (automatic win)*

* each entry from the same contestant does not have to be listed separately as its own comment, one comment with each method of entry will suffice. Winner to be chosen via Random.org and announced in my next post on Saturday, June 4, 2011.

Disclosure: The California Raisin Board supplied me with a Visa gift card to purchase the ingredients to make the raisin chipotle grilling sauce and provided the California Raisins Grilling Kit for use in a giveaway. I was not compensated in any other way or promised anything else in exchange for my review of their recipe. All opinions contained herein are my own.