Easter Pork 2009
Ann says
This was the first time Abe has been with me for a holiday, and it was so nice to have him with us. He made a delicious roasted fennel and carrot dish with a light gremolata that we devoured quickly. The Smidcheni went to visit my grandmother at her new home a couple of miles away (where she is just about exactly as uncontented as she was at my house, or maybe even better) and then came to our house at about 2:30. Alnis is now 7, which totally freaks me out, and Imants is still 5, thank goodness. They were good to chat to, and Alnis seems to both like school and dislike school, which I think is appropriate. Imants still loves the ladies, and the dog, cats, and just about everyone. We love having them in Seattle and around during some of the holidays (Easter and Thanksgiving).
There was, however, a cooking disaster. I had, as you may have read, grand plans for a pomegranate molasses glaze on the pork roast (which looked glorious, I might add). These plans were well into implementation when I became fixated, fixated I tell you, on stuffing the roast with wine-soaked figs. Simmering away, needing only a minute or so more, I was shoving knives, spoon handles, and a honing steel into the fleshy recesses of the 6 and a half pound Duroc pork loin sent up from Oregon. Needless to say, what would have been pomegranate molasses became far more than tastefully overcaramelized. Totally burnt and horrible. Total FAIL.
Abe gave me an absolutely sour look of contempt and I felt sad for about a minute and then resolved to use the Grenache varietal grape juice along with a little red wine simmered for a couple of minutes to baste the roast with. This worked nicely and I think the sugar aided in browning on the fatty layer on top of the roast (so yummy). Thyme was rubbed all over the roast with help from Abe and the fig stuffing went well aside from some irregularity in fig distribution.
Mom made a wonderful fresh strawberry tart with pastry cream and strawberry jam glazed strawberries. Dad was great and wonderful and good at making sure wine and coffee was available at all times. Alex, my brother, came home from his brief trip to Portland in order to grace us with his presence. We had a good time. We are tired. I am full of pork.
Abe says
I think Ann covered just about everything, although I don’t know how we can get away with saying things like “fleshy recesses” out here on the Internet. She was set on making The Minimalist’s pork, but it’s true that Bittman churns out remarkably simple, delicious recipes so I was hard pressed to complain. I wanted to do something appropriate for a family style spring meal, and tossed some roasted fennel and carrots with gremolata (try those two veggies together if you haven’t). In another world I might even put in some green olives and fennel seeds, but that will have to wait till next time.
Oh, and we got the grenache grape juice from the wine section at the Westlake Whole Foods. I’d been looking for the First Blush juice which I’d seen all over Whole Foods a year or two ago, but this turned out much better.
Easter Pork Loin 2009
adapted from Mark Bittman
Ingredients:
pork loin (we used a 6 1/2 lb, organically raised Duroc loin, but I think smaller works fine here)
2 cups dried figs
1 1/2 cups some combination of a juice that you like and red wine
3 Tbsp fresh thyme
liberal amounts of salt and pepper
optional: surround the loin in the pan with small potatoes and onions like we did. They are delicious in pork juice!
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Bring a small pot with the juice and wine in it to a simmer and dump in the figs. Press them into the liquid, turn off the heat, and cover. Allow them to sit.
Next, put your pork loin on a board and make holes in the ends with a knife straight through the middle of the loin. Use a honing steel, wooden spoon handle, or both to force the hole all the way through and widen it a bit.
Take the now juicy figs and starting with your fingers shove them a couple at a time into the cavity. As you get more in, use a thick wooden spoon handle to push the figs in further. You will know that they are getting into the middle when then meat firms up in the middle and then outwards as you fill up the cavity.
Over with salt and pepper and thyme and place into a large roasting pan. If you are using potatoes, don’t put them in yet. Cook at 425 for 20 minutes and then put the potatoes and onions in and turn the heat down to 350. Cook until a probe thermometer reads 150 degrees F. This takes from 30 minutes to an hour more. Remove from the oven and put the pork and potatoes in another vessel and cover well to rest (at least 15 minutes). At this point you can heat the juices in the pan over the stove-top with a little extra wine and reduce for a nice pan sauce. Slice, serve, and devour!
Ok, that’s it. I have been wanting to try a roast of some sort and this is going to be it.
Out of curiosity, if the pom molasses had worked out, how would you have integrated it?
If it had worked I would have kind of half-made it and then just sloshed it over the top after the first 20 minutes of cooking when you turn down the temperature. That’s basically what we did with the juice. You can kind of baste it now and then if you feel like it. I tossed the potatoes around every 20 minutes or so as well.
It was really tasty!