The Observant Wife

While up in Bar Harbor we ate twice at McKay’s Public House. On the first evening we both ordered beef - Chuck the Beef Carbonade and I the Marinated Bistro Steak. On the second, I ordered the Lobster “Mac & Cheese” (Surprise!) and Chuck ordered the Brandy Braised Pork. Now, I may have been oohing and aahing over my chunks of lobster, nestled in among the al dente Cavatappi, all tossed in a delicate cheese sauce, but I was not so absorbed that I failed to notice Chuck had twice ordered slow cooked meat for his entree. Hmmm... I tend to pan sear and quick grill various cuts of meat. When was the last time I had braised some beef or pork? Because no answer sprang to mind, I knew I needed to remedy the situation.

So, last week, on a trip to Trader Joe’s, I spotted a boneless pork loin roast. It was the pork chop size, not the much smaller tenderloin size. I hesitated just a moment before popping it into the cart. Once home I needed to decide how best to prepare it. I broke the rules and didn’t even bother to pan sear it. Instead I chopped up a couple of onions and tossed them into the roasting pan. I then peeled, cored and chopped a large Granny Smith apple and added it along with some crushed garlic. I opened a can of whole berry cranberry sauce and plopped in about half. I also splashed in some sherry. I dusted the pork roast with salt, pepper and Bell’s Seasoning. After stirring up the onions, apples etc. I placed the pork roast on top, covered the roasting pan and put it in a 275-300 (F) degree oven for a few hours. When it was fork tender I carefully removed the roast from the pan and kept it covered. I then transferred all the makings of my sauce to a shallow sauce pan and let it reduce a bit. I tweaked the seasonings and decided to thicken it just a skosh with a corn starch slurry.

I served the pork roast with its chunky sauce/gravy alongside mashed potatoes and oven roasted brussels sprouts. Chuck pronounced it all just dandy!