Accounting for Taste

In a word, ASTOUNDING! Also, elegant, classic and simple. It’s a one-pot meal that’s perfect for Sunday night. Yes it takes a while to make, but most of it will be the time spent in the oven. Pork and fruit are the perfect pairing, as we’ve seen time and again with recipes like holiday ham with pineapple rings, or applesauce spooned over pork chops. It’s that pleasure of sweet-tart-savory combinations.

In this version, chef-author Molly Stevens uses dried apricots because their pale orange flesh collapses into the sauce, which comes out every bit as pretty as it is tasty. The cardamom lends the whole dish its exotic perfume, while being backed up by a gang of other compatible flavors—ginger, turmeric, cayenne, garlic and orange.

This company-worthy dinner can be served over couscous, wild rice, or as in our case, garlicky mashed potatoes which became the perfect vehicle to hold that lovely sauce! If you care to pair the meal with wine, off-dry Riesling or Pinot Gris make good companions.

Pork Pot Roast with Apricots, Cardamom and Ginger

Servings: 6-8
Time: 2½ to 3 hours
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

One 4 1/2 to 5-lb. boneless pork shoulder roast, preferably Boston butt
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium leek, white and pale green part only, coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)
2 carrots, coarsely chopped
1 medium yellow onion (about 6 oz.), coarsely chopped
6 cardamom pods, husks split and discarded, seeds lightly crushed
1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
1/4 tsp. cayenne
1 Tbsp. minced or grated fresh ginger
2 large garlic cloves, peeled and bruised
3 strips orange zest, removed with a vegetable peeler (each about 3 inches by 3/4 inch)
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup dried apricots (about 6 1/2 oz.)

Directions

Heat the oven to 325 degrees
Trim any especially thick bits of fat from the pork, but do be sure to leave some. Roll and tie the pork (or have your butcher do it for you).
Pat the pork dry with paper towels. Season all over with salt and pepper. Pour the oil into a Dutch oven that will hold the pork snugly (4 to 5 quart works well), and heat over medium heat. Sear the pork on all sides, until deeply browned but not at all burnt, 15 to 20 minutes total. Transfer the pork to a plate.
Discard all but 1 tablespoon of the fat, and return the pot to medium heat. Add the leek, carrots, and onions, stir in the crushed cardamom, turmeric, and cayenne, and cook, stirring once or twice, until the vegetables begin to soften but do not take on much color, about 5 minutes. Add the ginger, garlic, orange zest, and bay leaf and cook until the spices are quite fragrant, another 2 minutes.
Add the wine and let it boil for 4 minutes, scraping the sides and bottom of the pot. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil. Add the apricots and boil for another 2 minutes.
Place the pork on top of the vegetables and fruit. Add any accumulated juices from the plate. bring the liquid to a simmer and spoon some over the pork. Cover the meat with sheet of parchment paper, pressing down so that it almost touches the meat and the edges extend over the sides of the pot about an inch. Cover and slide the pot onto a shelf in the lower third of the oven to braise. Check that the liquid is simmering gently, every 30 minutes and give the pork a turn. If the liquid is simmering too aggressively, lower the oven heat 10 or 15 degrees. Continue to braise gently until the pork is fork-tender, about 2 hours in all.
Remove the pork from the pot and set it on a carving board or platter to catch the juices. Cover loosely with foil, and let rest for 10 minutes.
Return the pot to the top of the stove and skim off as much surface fat as you can with a wide spoon. If the sauce is very thin reduce it by boiling over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes. It should be the consistency of a thick vinaigrette. Taste for salt and pepper. Pour any juices that have accumulated under the pork into the sauce, and stir.
Remove the strings from the pork, and carve into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Serve with sauce and apricots.

http://www.lynnandruss.com

Recipe from Molly Stevens book “All About Braising”

Seven hours may seem like a long time to make dinner, but much of it is hands off, and it is soooo worth it! Pork Roast with Mushroom Gravy might possibly be “the meal” that I would choose if it was going to be my last. Keep in mind, it needs to cook slowly so that the fat melts and the tough connective tissue softens. The original recipe came from Cook’s Country and it was a great starting point for this long, lazy Sunday afternoon braise.

After 6 hours in the oven, the pork has a nice crust and the mushrooms turn a rich brown.

To build a hearty gravy, start with chicken broth and add water. To maximize the mushroom flavor, toss the mushrooms directly into the roasting pan. This not only imbues the broth with deep, woodsy flavor but also allows the mushrooms to soften and caramelize. We even upped the quantity of the funghi by 20% to a full pound-and-a-half (noted in the list of ingredients).

Sometimes not even grocery stores label pork roasts properly. Were you ever confused between a pork shoulder and pork butt? These two cuts of pork are often mixed up. Both come from the shoulder of the pig, but pork butt is higher on the foreleg, while pork shoulder is farther down—confusing to start with, I know. As relatively tough and fatty cuts, both benefit from long, slow cooking methods such as roasting, stewing, and braising.

To begin with, we doubled the seasonings for the rub, wrapped the pork in plastic wrap, and let it get happy in the fridge overnight. Since we love a good gravy, we also increased by 50%, the amount of liquid (broth and water) that went into the roasting pan. Finally, because we did increase the liquid, we needed to balance the amount of flour to make a roux for the gravy. All of our changes are noted below.

To complete the meal, we made garlicky mashed potatoes—a great vehicle for that mushroom gravy—and a side of Roasted Glazed Parsnips and Carrots with Orange and Thyme, recipe also compliments of Cook’s Country.

Pork Roast with Mushroom Gravy

Servings: 6-8
Time: 7 hrs
Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

1 (4- to 5-pound) boneless pork shoulder roast, fat trimmed to 1/8 inch thick
1 Tbsp. dried thyme
1 Tbsp. dried sage
1 Tbsp.. salt
2 tsp. pepper
1 onion, peeled and halved
24 oz. cremini or white mushrooms, quartered
1 1/2 cups chicken broth, preferably homemade
1 1/2 cup water
1 bay leaf
4 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

**After roasting another 3 hours, remove pork from pan**

Directions

PREP PORK Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Pat pork dry with paper towels and rub all over with 2 teaspoon thyme, 2 teaspoon sage, salt, and pepper. Tie roast at 1-inch intervals with kitchen twine. The roast can be seasoned and refrigerated overnight until ready to cook.
ROAST PORK Arrange roast, fat side up, in roasting pan and cook until beginning to brown, about 3 hours. Add onion, mushrooms, broth, 1 cup water, bay leaf, remaining thyme, and remaining sage to pan and continue to roast until meat is well browned and skewer inserted in center meets no resistance, about 3 hours. Transfer roast to cutting board, tent with foil, and let rest 30 minutes.
STRAIN JUICES Discard onion and bay leaf. Strain contents of roasting pan through fine-mesh strainer into fat separator; reserve mushrooms. Let liquid settle, then pour defatted pan juices (you should have about 2 cups) into measuring cup and add another 1/2 cup water to yield 2½ cups.
MAKE GRAVY Transfer 4 tablespoons of fat from separator (we did not have enough fat so we added butter too) to large saucepan and heat over medium-high heat until shimmering. Stir in flour and cook until golden, stirring constantly, 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in pan juices and bring to boil. Add reserved mushrooms and simmer over medium-low heat until gravy is slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove twine from pork. Cut pork into 1-inch slices. Serve with gravy.