Roast Pork Loin with an Apple Crown

Yahoo and cowabunga. There was actually something cookin' in JBug's Kitchen last night and I have to admit it was a tremendous relief. I've always had a fear that if I didn't cook often enough I'd forget how but it must be like riding a bike or mastering a hoola hoop. You never forget!

This easy way to roast a pork loin was certainly without stress to the cook, but perfectly wonderful in its simplicity and yields a fabulously moist roast which can be a challenge these days since they've bred the fat right outa' the pig.

The roast was dredged first in a mixture of sugar, flour, dry mustard, caraway seeds and sage then hit the oven for a while before receiving its crown of sugar cinnamon flavored apples. The juice from the apples soaked through the roast as it finished cooking and made for perfectly cooked "poik" with an unbelievable pan sauce at the finish. Obviously I wasn't thinking because it would have been delicious on a bed of succulent red cabbage. Alas we had it with a cauliflower gratin instead, with little pearl tomato jewels and a cheddar sauce. I'll tell you about that one some other time. It needs a little more "work".

Nevertheless, dinner was all perfectly respectable and will make for some pretty darn yummy leftovers too. I mean really, what's better than pork with apples?

Roast Pork Loin with an Apple Crown (adapted from Best of Bridge Series Cookbooks)

Rub:

1/2 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon coarse sea salt

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground sage

 

4-5 pound pork loin roast

Topping:

1 large granny smith apple, peeled and grated

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon mace (or use pumpkin pie spice)

1/4 teaspoon salt

Water and/or Apple Jack

Preheat oven to 325. Combine above ingredients and rub onto all sides of pork roast. Place fat side up in a small roasting pan and bake for 1-1/2 hours.  Meanwhile combine topping ingredients and spread over roast. Add a small amount of water to the pan (and/or apple jack or apple brandy)…return roast to oven and roast for 1 hour longer until roast reaches an internal temperature of 160 degrees. Allow roast to rest covered for 15 minutes before carving.

Hint - for a lower carb version, eliminate the sugar in the apple topping. It may not brown but it will still taste wonderful!

 

Comments

[pam]

Yep, I bet red cabbage would have been awesome!

[June]

For sure Pam! We had some leftover pork last night in sandwiches and it was amazing!

[Nanan]

It looks like a potato crust - I love how you like to pair apples with pork - it really is a natural pairing that as someone who lives along the gulf coast where we just don't have apple trees naturally - we just don't do it... I use you as an inspiration to do it more!

[June]

Lea - funny, I never thought of them being uncommon, but they really are a cool weather crop aren't they. You could used jarred applesauce for this too in fact I have in the past and it works fine.