on Jan 11th, 2008Blood orange pork roast
This is big-flavor delicious. In addition to the ingredients here, a little white wine and chicken broth round out the picture. The bonus is it’s simple enough that anyone, including novices, can put a lean, impressive main course on the table.
Beautiful blood oranges are in season and I had a couple in the fridge when this recipe appeared in the Epicurious Healthy Dinners feed in my sidebar at the end of December. I was eager to try it; when the butcher offered to cut a boneless center cut for me with little fat or waste, it was a done deal.
This is a moist roast. Pork is very lean these days and has a reputation for being dry but, like turkey, often the dryness results from overcooking. The USDA no longer recommends cooking pork until it’s vulcanized; trichinosis is not the problem it was fifty years ago. In this recipe the pork is cooked to an internal temperature of 150 degrees at the thickest point. That temperature will rise by a few degrees as the roast rests.
If possible, buy natural pork and not the more commonly-found pork injected with water. Not only is natural pork superior in taste and texture, you will not be paying 15 or 20 cents on the dollar for water.
My roast was slightly over 2 pounds, not 3 as in the recipe. My adjustments for that size are in brackets.
For a lighter, beautiful way to use blood oranges, see Spinach Salad with Oranges.
Blood Orange Roast Pork Loin
Adapted from Bon Appetit
3 blood oranges [2]
1 3-pound boneless pork loin, rolled and tied [2 lb]
3 TB extra-virgin olive oil, divided [2]
1 large onion, cut into 8 wedges [1 medium onion or 1 large shallot]
2 fresh rosemary sprigs, leaves stripped from stems [1], plus additional for garnish
1/2 cup dry white wine [6 TB] [vermouth is fine]
1/2 cup low-salt chicken broth [6TB]
1 large garlic clove, pressed
Blood orange slices
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees.
With a paring knife or vegetable peeler, remove strips of peel from the oranges and place the peels in a small bowl. Add the cut up onion or shallot, the rosemary leaves and 2 teaspoons of the olive oil. Toss well.
Place the pork in a roasting pan and rub with the remaining olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper, seasoning well. Scatter the contents of the bowl around the pork and roast for 25 minutes, until the onions/shallots are browning.
Meanwhile, juice the oranges, squeezing out 3/4 cup [1/2 cup]. If short, make up the difference with regular orange juice. Add the juice to a small saucepan, along with the wine, chicken broth and garlic. Bring to a boil and let boil until reduced by about 25%, seven minutes or so.
When the pork has roasted for 25 minutes, remove from the oven, lower the temperature to 350 degrees, and add about 3/4 of the liquid mixture to the roasting pan. Reserve the remainder.
Baste the pork with the pan drippings and liquid. Return to the oven, basting frequently, until the internal temperature at the thickest point is 150 degrees. Begin to check after 30 minutes. [My very thick pork needed a total of 60 minutes at 350]
Move the pork to a serving platter and cover loosely with foil to tent. Add the reserved liquid to the roasting pan, scraping up any fond. Bring this sauce to a boil and let boil until slightly thickened, 3 -5 minutes.
If a rolled roast, cut the string. Slice the pork into serving sizes and drizzle with the sauce. Garnish with orange slices and rosemary.
Serves 6
Looks truly fabulous and my mouth is watering. Have always loved the combo of fruit and pork - and who doesn’t love a good blood orange? I think it’s a natural. Yum. Thank you.
Loverly!! I want some … NOW!
Thanks, ladies. I can’t believe I was able to photograph protein without making look ghastly. This dish is soooo good.
Ellaella, it looks lovely and I’m sure it’s delicious. I wonder if you know the answer to a question that’s been irritating me for a while. In the UK we would call this dish something like ‘Blood Orange Roast Pork’ or possibly ‘Blood Orange Roasted Pork’. Why is it that in the US the noun comes before the adjective, i.e. Pork Roast? Do you do that with other foods too?
Hi, Ros! Good to meet you. In this particular case, the recipe is indeed called Blood Orange Roast Pork Loin. I shortened it to get it to fit on one line.
However, we do say ‘pork roast’, while we say ‘roast beef’ and in this specific pork case, in the shortened version, I used, “roast” as the noun and “pork” the adjective. We do use “roast” as a noun quite often. (ie: What are you making for dinner? A roast. We never say ‘a joint’.)
Now I’ll be thinking about this for days.
I remain baffled why we say “chicken” and “turkey” but not “cow” for beef and “pig” for pork.
Wilde was right when he said Americans and Britons are separated by the same language!
Weird. Pork roast but roast beef. I’d never use ‘roast’ as a noun. I’d either say ‘a roast dinner’ or ‘I’m cooking a joint’ (which could obviously be an amusing or embarrassing double entendre these days), or more likely you’d specify ‘roast pork’, ‘roast lamb’ etc.
So true. I’ve been in the US for 18 months and I’m continually surprised still at the way people speak here!
Oh, Ros, don’t even try to understand why. When you toss in American Regional English it gets even more confusing. For instance, a grinder, a sub and a hoagie are all the same sandwich. It just depends where you are. (What’s called an ‘Italian’ in Maine is, to me, all of the above.)
When shopping, it’s made worse by the lack of Federal standaridized names for cuts of beef. You would starve before you find anything in a New England supermarket called ‘filet mignon.’ They sell it, of course. It’s called ‘tenderloin.’
Have a great weekend — come back, k?
And I think it’s what I would call fillet steak. But that’s why butchers are better - they can explain all this stuff to you and make sure you get what you want.
I believe that is the same cut - the most expensive! I’ve seen recipes for stroganoff that use that cut and I always say..huh?
Hi Ho….I had ‘filet’ stroganoff in Budapest years ago - it was superb, literally melted in my mouth hitting all ‘prime’ pleasure points … If ‘beef’ were ‘wine’ ‘twould be a ‘full bodied’ merlot !
p.s. Very good coverage of Obama et al in ‘Salon.com’…
Hi! I’m sure it’s magnificent with a filet but I can’t justify $16 per pound in a dish that will sauce it up. Maybe some of that fabled New England thrift is rubbing off on me.
Yes, Salon today is excellent!
Ok, did it, back again … bit of a circuitous route, but think I’m getting the hang of it … Thanks for the Newsweek tip about commas on my blog, very true. I like the silly little squiggly things, but realize I am increasingly in the minority on that one. Irving Wallace certainly uses them well - it elucidates his thought in a very full bodied manner …. O’dear, just realized I should have posted this one at the last ‘check in’…the p.123 ’story’ meme… zut alors, well maybe it will encourage others to FIND IT ? Wacky bloggy fun. Best.
canadada’s last blog post..Philanthropy ? (Another short story)
I’m a comma fan too, although I’m more fond of the semi-colon and the em dash.
I haven’t read Irving Wallace in eons. Going on the list!