ROAST PORK WITH GINGERSNAP GRAVY

Quoted below the title of this recipe was "This dish will knock your socks off", says Chef Prud'homme.  Sorry no pic ... didn't realize how poorly it came out.

Serves 6             325 degree oven

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1/3 cup finely chopped green pepper (omitted because the husband hates peppers)

1/3 cup finely chopped celery

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp paprika

2 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1/4 cup butter

l boneless pork loin roast (about 3 lbs)

Gingersnap Gravy (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Saute first nine items with butter over high heat for 4 minutes, or until vegetables soften.  Remove from heat.

Place roast in shallow roasting pan, fat side up.  Make several slits with a sharp knife in the top of the roast, cutting downward, but not through to the bottom.  Stuff the pockets with the vegetable mixture.

Roast in preheated oven for 2 hours or until meat thermometer registers 165-170 degrees.  Remove roast from pan and keep warm.  Reserve pan drippings.

To serve, slice pork and spoon gravy over the meat.

Gingersnap Gravy:  Saute 1/2 cup finely chopped onion, 1/4 cup finely chopped celery and 1/4 tsp minced garlic in 2 tbsp of butter for 5 minutes. Add pan drippings which have been deglazed with some water. Add 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp thyme, 1/8 tsp sage and dash of cumin, and heat through.

Review:  I should have made the slits larger; using the veggie mixture to stuff a bit of each slice.  Instead, I made slits on alternating sides of the roast and just placed the leftover mixture on top of the roast.  And, although the recipe didn't specifically state this, I did salt and pepper the roast.  It was very good, but I'm not sure it knocked anybody's socks off.

ROAST LEG OF LAMB

** This recipe was next on my list to be made, but for months, I couldn't get myself to commit to a roast leg of lamb of all things.  With my husband's recovery from knee replacement surgery and all the bad weather on the east coast, I had no energy.  Instead, I used what my butcher calls, lamb grillers, large hunks of lamb, for which I adapted the recipe. The original recipe is below, and at the bottom of the post, will explain the changes.   Just wanted to move along in this blog process ...

Serves 6-8            325 degree oven

lamb leg

2 cloves garlic

1/2 tsp pepper

2 tsp salt

1 tsp rosemary or thyme

1/4 cup wine vinegar

2 tbsp oil

1 onion and carrot, sliced

1 1/2 cups beer or apple juice

Trim excess fat from leg and score top fat in diamond pattern as you would a ham.  

Crush garlic with seasonings, add vinegar and oil and rub over lamb.  

Place leg bone down i pan and roast for 1 hour at 325 degrees.  Pour off excess fat, add onion and carrot, pour beer or apple juice over.  Finish roasting to medium rare, about 25 minutes per pound, basting occasionally.  Serve sauce with meat.

Review:  Omitted the onion, carrot and beer/apple juice, and after roasting for about 30 minutes, placed the meat under the broiler just to crust it up.  The seasonings were really good; the wine vinegar adding a dimension to the overall flavor.