Herb Roasted Pork Loin & Potatoes

 

Today I am sharing a delicious recipe with you for a fabulously tasty pork roast and potatoes done in the oven.  The meat for this roast is incredibly juicy and filled with flavor, the potatoes golden edged and meltingly tender in the middle.

I am sharing in feeding my father this week while he is immobile after his car accident, and by that I mean unable to drive. He is not hurt himself in the least. But he can't get out anywhere as he doesn't have a car.

 

 

As a result of that we are having to bring his meals to him.  Normally he drives to my sister's each day, which serves a dual purpose.  It gets him out of the house and he is well fed.  

With the cost of gasoline however, we can't really afford to make two trips all the way to Greenwood each day and so we are bringing his dinners to him.

 

I decided to do a roast of pork today and that way I can slice it and bring it to him cold tomorrow so that he can enjoy it cold with mustard.  When we were growing up we never had hot roast pork in our home.

My mother always cooked it the day before and we ate it cold. That is the way my father preferred it.  So tomorrow (which is today as you read this) my father is getting cold roast pork.  I am not sure yet what else I will put on his plate, but I have 24 hours to think about it.

 

I had this pork loin roast in the freezer and took it out last night to thaw. I was thinking it was a boneless roast, but once I looked at it thawed I realized it was very much a bone in loin roast.

Never mind, at that point I had no option but to roast it. Normally I would stuff it with prunes and apricots, but my father doesn't like anything fancy, which he was very quick to point out to me.  He just likes simple food.

 

And yet at the same time he is incredibly proud of me being a Chef and of my having written some books.  He just doesn't want to eat cheffie food I guess.

Anyways, this isn't cheffie food. Its just a simple roast, bathed in herbs, garlic and butter and onions  . . .  roasted to perfect tenderness in the oven along with some potatoes.  What's not to like about that?

 

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE HERB ROASTED PORK LOIN & POTATOES

It may look like a long list, but I promise you, it is mostly herbs. Ideally you should begin marinating it the night before you cook it.

 For the marinade:

• 1 bottle Italian Salad dressing
• 1 3-pound pork loin roast (boneless or bone in) (bone in will take slightly longer to cook)

You will also need:

• 6 TBS butter, divided
• fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 TBS finely chopped garlic
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp dried sage
• 1 pound of medium new potatoes quartered
• 1 medium onion, peeled and diced

There is no specific type of Italian Salad dressing needed. I use a packet of dry Italian dressing which I mixed up in a bowl and then popped the roast into for marinating.  

You can use any brand of bottled dressing, or the dry mix reconstituted.  This gives it a nice flavor and helps to tenderize the meat.

 

I used fresh herbs today, which means the quantity used was roughly twice the amount of dry herbs called for in the recipe.  Dry herbs work perfectly well.  Its just I have the fresh and I want to use them rather than have them go to waste.

It is rather a lot of butter, but try not to think about it.  You won't be eating the butter left in the dish and only a minute amount is absorbed by the pork and the potatoes.

 

Do use the full amount of garlic. Its the garlic which helps to infuse the meat with lovely flavors. Garlic and pork are perfect partners.  When my family was growing up I often pierced my pork roasts with a skewer and inserted pieces of garlic deep into the meat.

I did it with beef as well, with incredibly delicious results. 

HOW TO COOK HERB ROASTED PORK LOIN & POTATOES

This is really very simple, and so long as you follow the instructions you end up with a perfectly cooked, tender and juicy piece of meat and perfect roasted potatoes.

Place the Italian salad dressing into a container with a cover. Add the pork and immerse it. Cover tightly and marinate for at least half an hour, but preferably overnight.

When you are ready to cook dinner, remove the pork from the marinade, discarding the marinade. Pat dry with paper towels and season all over generously with salt and black pepper.

 

Melt 2 TBS of the butter in a heavy bottomed skillet. Brown the pork generously on all sides. (2 -3 minutes per side)Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4.Transfer the browned pork to a roasting pan. Scatter the potatoes around the pork in the pan.

Add the remaining butter to the skillet, along with the onion, garlic and herbs. Cook for about 2 minutes. Pour this mixture over the pork and potatoes, turning to coat the potatoes in the garlic butter.

 

Roast for 25 minutes per pound, until the internal temperature of the pork reaches at least 145*F/73*C. Remove from the oven, lightly tent and leave to rest for 10 to 15 minutes before carving.

If the potatoes are done before the pork and you don't want them to get really browned, remove to a covered casserole and keep warm.

 

As you can see the meat comes out tender and really juicy. Ideally I would have enjoyed this with some applesauce,  but I didn't happen to have any in my house today.

Pork and applesauce are perfect partners.  I know a lot of pork producers that feed their animals up on apples prior to slaughter because it makes the meat sweeter.  

In any case this was really delicious.  Perfectly cooked and flavored. As you can see the skin got a nice crisp and golden brown skin on it, whilst leaving the meat moist and succulent underneath.

I love the crusty bits myself. I enjoyed it thinly sliced along with the potatoes and with some steamed carrots, but really I can't think of a vegetable that would not go with this.  Braised Red Cabbage would be especially nice. 

Creamy Parmesan Sprouts and Bacon would also go very well.   Any cruciferous vegetable really.  Enjoy!!

Herb Roasted Pork Loin & Potatoes

Yield: 6

Author: Marie Rayner

Prep time: 8 H & 15 MCook time: 1 H & 30 MTotal time: 9 H & 45 M

Delicious juicy pork with crisp garlic butter roasted potatoes. You will need to marinate the pork, for at least half an hour, but overnight is best.

Ingredients

For the marinade:

• 1 bottle Italian Salad dressing
• 1 3-pound pork loin roast (boneless or bone in) (bone in will take slightly longer to cook)

You will also need:

• 6 TBS butter, divided
• fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 TBS finely chopped garlic
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp dried sage
• 1 pound of medium new potatoes quartered
• 1 medium onion, peeled and diced

Instructions

1. Place the Italian salad dressing into a container with a cover. Add the pork and immerse it. Cover tightly and marinate for at least half an hour, but preferably overnight.
2. When you are ready to cook dinner, remove the pork from the marinade, discarding the marinade. Pat dry with paper towels and season all over generously with salt and black pepper.
3. Melt 2 TBS of the butter in a heavy bottomed skillet. Brown the pork generously on all sides. (2 -3 minutes per side)
4. Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4.
5. Transfer the browned pork to a roasting pan. Scatter the potatoes around the pork in the pan.
6. Add the remaining butter to the skillet, along with the onion, garlic and herbs. Cook for about 2 minutes. Pour this mixture over the pork and potatoes, turning to coat the potatoes in the garlic butter.
7. Roast for 25 minutes per pound, until the internal temperature of the pork reaches at least 145*F/73*C. Remove from the oven, lightly tent and leave to rest for 10 t 15 minutes before carving.
8. If the potatoes are done before the pork and you don't want them to get really browned, remove to a covered casserole and keep warm.

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