The pork, it is roasted. And then some.

So, it's November. Clearly, this is not gardening season...at least not in Seattle, so we're skipping that part of my re-learning curve for a few months. It IS Dungeness crab season...at least, it should be...and it's comfort food season. What sounds more comfort food-y than a roasted pork loin? Nothing! Well, plenty of things...but last week pork loin was it. It was on sale in massive cuts at my grocery...minimum: 8 pounds of pork! I live alone. 8 pounds was clearly excessive, so I now have 3 2-lb cuts in the freezer. What happened to the other one? Well, that's a matter of opinion, but I'm getting ahead of myself. The first challenge was finding a roast pork recipe that involved neither fruit (apples/raisins/etc) nor onions. I'm not opposed to fruit, and certainly have no shortage of fruit at the moment, but...fruit with pork always seems to make me just want more roasted fruit and less pork. Also I really hate cooking with onions. Truth be told I'm not super fond of eating them, either.

A little digging around produced this deliciously garlicky sounding recipe (copied in full below). I had all the required ingredients in-house, which is no small thing for me, and this even gave me an excuse to use something I had grown on the back patio (rosemary). I got home from work and got to it, stabbing the pork and lining the pan and crushing some recently dried rosemary. I popped it on the rack, set the timer, and put the whole thing in the oven. For the following two hours my apartment smelled AMAZING, if a little garlicky. It came out, and I sat down to a very attractive dinner.



I took the first bite...and knew immediately something had gone awry. The flavors were perfect - rosemary and garlic but neither in an overpowering way - but the meat was surprisingly overdone. Why? Well, if you already looked at the recipe and read my post carefully, you probably thought "wait, why is she putting this thing on a rack?" Indeed, why? There was no mention of a rack in the recipe. #fail. 

So, fellow chefs: remember, just because you're roasting something doesn't mean there's a rack involved. Now, to be fair: my ever-patient boyfriend (henceforth referred to as "EPB") tried to assure me that it was delicious, not at all overcooked. So either he was being kind or I like my pork juicier than it's supposed to be...who knows? Either way: I'll try this one again.

Roasted Pork Loin (source: AllRecipes, Kathleen Burton)

Serves 8 (although those seems like pretty small servings to me); Prep time 20 minutes, Cook time ~2 hours

Ingredients
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
salt and pepper to taste
2 pounds boneless pork loin roast
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup white wine

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Crush garlic with rosemary, salt and pepper, making a paste. Pierce meat with a sharp knife in several places and press the garlic paste into the openings. Rub the meat with the remaining garlic mixture and olive oil. 

Place pork loin into oven, turning and basting with pan liquids. Cook until the pork is no longer pink in the center, about 2 hours. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 160 degrees F (70 degrees C). Remove roast to a platter. Heat the wine in the pan and stir to loosen browned bits of food on the bottom. Serve with pan juices.