Directions
Serve with Creamy Mushrooms and Kale recipe follows.
Heads up: you're roasting 2 loins of pork for this recipe which would feed up to 12 for an entree but the sides are allowing 4 to 6 portions as the second loin is used for other meals/recipes being prepared later in the week.
The loins can sit, covered, at room temperature for up to 2 hours to marinate. Roast 2 hours before dinnertime on the evening of your Cook Day.
Ingredients
- 2 (2 1/2 to 3-pound) boneless pork loins
- Extra-virgin olive oil, for liberal drizzling
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 medium onions, very finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced or finely chopped
- 1 red Fresno chile pepper
- 3 to 4 fresh rosemary sprigs, needles stripped and finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, chopped
- 2 pounds small potatoes, halved
- 1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seed or pollen
- 1 cup white wine or chicken stock
- Creamy Mushrooms and Kale, recipe follows
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Rub the loins with extra-virgin olive oil and lots of salt and coarse pepper. Combine the onions with the garlic, chile, rosemary, and thyme, and then dress with extra-virgin olive oil and salt and pepper. Arrange a bed of potatoes in a roaster pan. Place the pork loins over the potatoes. Add the fennel to one of the loins (the other is for the Pork and Poblano Green Chili Pot recipe, recipe follows). Pile the onion-flavoring paste evenly over the pork loins. Roast the meats 1 hour. Pour the wine evenly around the pan, and then shake the pan to loosen the potatoes or use a spoon to mix them around a bit. Add the pork back to the oven and roast another 25 minutes or so, until a thermometer inserted in the loin reads 160 degrees F. Let the meat rest, then carve and serve with potatoes and pan drippings.
Cool the remaining loin, cover in plastic wrap and reserve for another meal.
Creamy Mushrooms and Kale:
- 1 1/4 pounds mixed mushrooms, wiped clean (recommended: shiitake, porcini, cremini)
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 to 4 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced or finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
- 2 tablespoons very thinly sliced fresh sage leaves
- 1 bundle black kale, lacinato or dinosaur kale, washed, stripped and shredded or chopped
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Freshly grated nutmeg
- About 1/2 cup Marsala wine
- About 1/2 to 2/3 cup cream
- Freshly grated Pecorino cheese
Stem and slice or coarsely chop the mushroom blend. Heat the extra-virgin olive oil, 4 turns of the pan, over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms to the pan and brown 10 minutes, then add in the garlic, thyme, and sage, stir 2 to 3 minutes, then add the kale and cook until just wilted. Season with salt, pepper, and a few grates of nutmeg. Stir a few minutes more, then add in the Marsala and reduce the liquid by half, another minute or 2. Add the cream to the mushrooms in the pan and reduce heat, let the flavors combine a few minutes and cream thickens. Serve the mushroom dish garnished with a few grates of cheese.
Pork and Poblano Green Chili Pot:
- 4 large poblano peppers
- 2 jalapeno peppers
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 onions, chopped
- 3 to 4 cloves garlic, chopped or sliced
- 12 tomatillos, peeled and chopped
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- A handful fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin, half a palmful
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 1/2 pounds cooked pork, finely chopped
- 2 limes
Cheesy Polenta:
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup quick cooking polenta
- 1 cup shredded Manchego cheese
- Serving suggestion: Serve with the cheesy polenta or warm tortillas, chips for dipping, wrapping or dunking.
Char the poblano peppers all over by placing the peppers on stovetop burners or under a hot broiler until black, turning frequently. Place the charred peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap to steam them as they cool. Rub the skins off the poblanos and jalapenos with paper towel or peel by hand, then seed the peppers and chop.
Meanwhile, heat the extra-virgin olive oil in a medium-size Dutch oven over medium heat, add the onions and sweat 10 minutes then add the garlic and tomatillos and cook 10 minutes more; season with salt and pepper. Place the cooked onion-tomatillo mixture in a food processor with cilantro, cumin, honey, and puree. Add the puree back to the Dutch oven, then stir in the chopped peppers and chicken stock. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to low for the flavors to combine. Slice and finely chop the cooked pork and stir into the chili. When the soup returns to a bubble, turn off the stove, cool completely and store for make-ahead meal.
To reheat the chili: Place in covered pot over medium heat and cook until the pork comes to a bubble, stir in the juice of 1 lime and turn off the heat. Slice the remaining lime into wedges and serve alongside the chili.
For the cheesy polenta: In medium saucepan, bring the chicken stock and milk to a boil. Whisk in the polenta, stirring until the polenta just pulls from the side of the pot. Stir in the Manchego cheese and serve warm.
















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By jackyjoe
Eastern Oregon USA
on October 31, 2011
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This turned out really good for me. I had a bone in pork loin roast and was amazed at how the flavor of the onion, peppers and herbs permeated clear into the middle of the roast(halved the amt of the onion mixture. The potatoes were crispy on the outside and full of a wonderful pork/white wine flavor.The pork was moist and will make an amazing sandwhich this week. I will deffinately make this again.
By Hobbes_804396
Antelope, CA
on June 13, 2011
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This is a really tasty as well as economical dish. I substituted 2 thick hunks of boneless pork sirlion chops totaling just under 2 lbs. I halved the onion mixture ingredients, added basil, and used 1.5 lbs of baby potatoes. Yum! Everything fit perfectly in my 8X8 baking dish. The pork was juicy and flavorful and the potatoes were to die for. I did put the potatoes back in the oven to roast them a little more while the pork rested. The only thing I might change next time is to add a little more liquid to the pan so there is more of that tasty juice to spoon over the meat.
I served Melissa d'Arabian's Kale Slaw with this. I look forward to trying Rachael's Creamy Mushrooms and Kale that she paired with this dish another time but, we really enjoyed the fresh taste and texture of the raw Kale Slaw with the pork and potatoes. Looking forward to using the leftovers for a sandwich tomorrow. Yummo!
By aleasa
by the ocean
on May 26, 2011
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Despite all the chopping, the meat really didn't have that great of a flavor. I even let it "marinate" and added some olive oil to the topping to try and impart some of the flavor to the pork. It was just OK. I'm giving it 3 stars because the potatoes were really good (I tossed them with olive oil and thyme first and the meat was very good in the chili recipe. The pork portion of the dish would only get one star, though. Otherwise, this is a good "week in a day" start! I also made the mushroom dish, except with spinach and it was the first time mushrooms actually tasted kind of good. So thanks Rachael! You do great work :
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