Roasts galore

Tonight I decided to try a new roast - pork loin roast. I'd been thinking of trying to roast pork since my usual repertoire for pork is pork chops. Metta grew up eating pork chops and it's one of his comfort foods especially if I can make it nice and crispy. Unfortunately, it doesn't agree with my favourite way of eating pork which is just cooked through and still moist and tender. I find that crispifying pork chops usually renders it well done and therefore dry and stringy. A roast seems to fulfill Metta's desire for crispy and my desire for moist.

I started with a 2 1/2 pound pork loin roast that was pretty much trimmed of all fat. I decided to purchase a roast because I was looking for some meat for a chinese herbal soup and for a chow fun stir fry. Also, it seemed a lot better deal than chops at a full dollar cheaper per pound. However, I fell out of schedule with our meal plan when a craving for Pho overpowered the effort to cook one night. The next night, I had forgotten we were supposed to meet friends for dinner. This left me with a roast that was begging to be cooked.

Wanting to be kind to my vegetarian roommates, I waited until they went out and then I yanked that roast out of the fridge. I heated up some organic olive oil in my wok, seared the salt and peppered roast on all sides til golden, then put it in the oven at 425 for 20 minutes and 350 for 35 minutes more. It was beautifully done. Juicy, tender and crisp on the outside. Metta swooned when he saw it. He'd never had pork roast before and is now a convert. Booboo and Nunu begged for seconds. We used it as a bargaining chip - eat your veggies and you can have more.

To go with that lovely roast, I put some cut up organic russet potatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper into a cast iron frypan for the same amount of time as the pork roast. I heated up some wild rice pilaf and stirfried veggies as sides. Yesterday, a hectic trip to Costco yielded way to much organic applesauce which rounded out the meal. No need for a late night snack tonight for the girls. They ate their fill (for once!).