Herbed pork loin roast and mashed potatoes

 It turned out perfect! Again, cobbled together my own recipe but followed cooking temps and time from a pinterest post.

Bone in Pork Loin Roast.

1 ~5lb bone in pork loin roast

4 or 5 cloves garlic sliced 

2 tbs olive oil

approx measures of:

1tsp rosemary

1 tsp marjoram

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp sage

1/2 tsp parsley

salt and fresh ground pepper 

 

Total volume is about 2 tbsp of herbs.  

 Pre-heat oven to 425 

Pat dry roast thoroughly then sprinkle generously with salt and pepper on all sides. Drizzle olive oil over and rub in to cover all surfaces. Cut small slits in all soft meat areas and insert slices of garlic, doesn't have to be perfect some can stick out a bit.

Sprinkle herbs little bit at a time and pat into meat, do not try and spread. When herbs are all applied.

Place on rack in shallow foil lined pan, add about ¾ - 1 cup of water in bottom of pan (this was from a recipe that had vegetables in the pan as well but I did it anyway).

When oven is heated, place pan on middle rack of oven and cook for 15 minutes, then turn temperature down to 350 and cook for 1 1/2-2 hours. Internal temperature should be anywhere from 145 for medium rare to 160 for medium. I went for 145 and checked in different spots to make sure it was thoroughly cooked. At the end of an hour I pulled out the roast, inserted digital instant thermometer, set to 145 and turned the pan around to finish cooking for another hour. 

When temperature reaches desired number turn off oven and take roast out. Do not cut immediately and let rest for 15 minutes at least in order to let the juices distribute and stay in the meat. Crucial step here.
 

 Let me tell you this is a do again for sure! The cooking gods were with me on this and my diligence in following the directions paid off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Almost perfectly juicy due to mistakenly inserting forks to move the roast let a little of the juices out but not too much. It was moist and tender all the way through.

Mashed potatoes were a combination of white and Yukon Gold served with turkey gravy augmented with some pan juices from the pork. 

One thing I need to say is, when a recipe is called 'herbed roast' whatever there had better be more than one herb. I saw one recipe that was just salt, pepper and rosemary. That's one flavor. I was originally going to just use Italian seasoning but went with a less is more using just three or four plus the salt and pepper. Can't rave enough about how well this turned out. 

 

 

Long time no post

 I have not been feeling well so not as many pictures of new recipes as a result. I have discovered some amazing flavors of yogurt though and have been eating my favorite apple variety Cosmic Crisp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Absolutely gigantic apples that are just a wonderful treat for eating. I don't have good front teeth so I cut it up into small pieces and there is enough in that one apple to make a decent 8" pie. Seriously. Cosmic Crisp, expensive even at my store but so worth it. 

Due to having loads of turkey left and not eating as much of what was in the freezer I was able to splurge on a rack of pork. This was the smallest Costco had and perfect size for two of us and only $17. I am still debating whether to do it as a savory herb style or bbq, since we got some white potatoes and yukon gold I'm thinking savory with a nice gravy and mashed potatoes. That is going to be Christmas Eve dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Kitchen hack: If you want a toasted hot dog bun but toaster slots are too small, oven is too much work and you're boiling your hot dog... use your toaster like a broiler only reversed. Gets it mostly toasty and no burning at the 2 or 3 setting. 

Chicken cutlets or my attempt at chicken schnitzel. 

Butterfly cut two chicken breasts and then beat them between two pieces of plastic wrap until about 1/4" thick or closest. Standard breading set up:

1/2 c flour

2 eggs whisked

1 cup Italian bread crumbs with 1 tsp each garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper and additional Italian seasoning if you wish. 

I ended up cutting one flattened breast in half because it was a bit too thin on one side and gave way. Generously salt and pepper the pieces.

Heat 1/2 cup oil in pan until shimmer.

Coat chicken in flour, shake off excess, dredge in egg thoroughly then coat in breadcrumbs, pressing firmly to get the crumbs to stick. Fry one at a time if pieces are too big, doesn't take too long due to how thin the chicken is. Golden brown on each side then remove to paper towel on plate.

 

I forgot to make gravy but we had some of the yukon gold potatoes baked in the microwave. Delicious dinner and very simple. The breading turned out perfectly seasoned and there was an enormous one left over we split for lunch the next day. Partner cut his in pieces to put in ramen and I used my half on a bun for a chicken sandwich.

Today's meal was shrimp tacos or shrimp and rice bowl for partner with lime cilantro rice. I made chipotle ranch sauce which was insanely more easy than other recipes. Ranch dressing from a packet, whisked it and let it set for an hour. Took half of that in a smaller jar and added two finely chopped chipotles and some adobo from the can with an added clove of garlic crushed. I think I added a smidge of chili powder and cumin as well. It is delicious!

I have some pre-shredded cabbage (cole slaw mix) and added some of the sauce to a handful of cabbage for topping. Oh but the shrimp you say? I found a packet of Mojito Lime marinade mix at the store and followed the directions on that. It cautioned that you only need to marinate the shrimp for up to a half hour. I lost track of time and may have gone over that. If I didn't have the lime rice or the slaw the shrimp would have been a bit overpowering on salt flavor. But the combination of pico, cabbage and avocado it was absolutely delicious! Total do again for sure!

 

Pico de Gallo

1 roma tomato fine chopped 

1/4 yellow onion fine chopped

1/4 jalapeño fine chopped

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

1 tsp lime juice. 

 

There have been other meals but again, I am more focused on actually fixing the food and eating than impressing people with how it looks. Hopefully the coming year there will be more fantastic, terrific recipes and meals to share.