You know they say Sunday night is the new Monday morning? I don't feel compelled to make a big, nice dinner every Sunday. But sometimes the stars align and the right things are on sale at the grocery store and I have my general shit together, and so am able to pull off something big and nice for Sunday. If I am really on top of my game, I can get dinner on the table between 5 and 5:30 and be done by 6:15, giving the kids roughly two hours to deal with it being Sunday.
I was on top of my game tonight.
I found a rather pretty pork roast at DeCicco's and decided to do a down-home fare of roast pork, baked potatoes, stewed apples and asparagus.
Sunday Roast Pork
Put roast in a ziplock bag. Add 1/4 cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons minced garlic, 2-3 fresh sprigs of rosemary, chopped, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and a few generous grinds of the pepper mill. If you have whole-grain mustard, a tablespoon of that is nice, too, but I was out.
Close the bag, pressing as much air out as possible, then start mooshing the roast around, getting it coated well with all the oil and herbs. You're really massaging it but mooshing sounds less weird.
Let sit for at least half an hour, up to whatever amount of time you have available. I left it an hour while I ran and picked up Panda from a playdate.
Preheat oven to 350. Slide roast out of bag into baking dish. You may want to pick off some of the larger pieces of rosemary.
Roasting pork is tricky. It's very lean meat and can be easily overcooked. I consulted a few cookbooks and a few online sources and set my oven probe to go off when the roast registered 160. I tented it with foil and let it sit 10 minutes while I finished everything else. It looked plenty juicy when I was slicing and eating it off the carving board, but shortly after, at table, I noticed it was just slightly dry. That real annoying slight, like you just missed it. Taking it out of the oven at 150-155 and letting the carryover heat take it up to 160 would've been perfect. Live and learn.
Wishing you and yours a peaceful Sunday. By whatever name you call him, God bless you tonight.
