Roast Loin of Pork with Red Cabbage and Port Wine Sauce (Page 472)

RECIPE #1183

• Date: Monday, July 5, 2010 -- 7pm
• Location: East Lansing, MI
• Kitchen: Our New House!
• Fellow Chef: Matty
• Recipe Rating: B+
  

This recipe was on the list generated by the random number generator. I started by brining a pork loin roast in a mixture of water, allspice, black peppercorns, salt, sugar, thyme, cloves, and bay leaf for 2 days. Then I removed the pork from the brine and browned it. I placed the pork in a skillet on a bed of onions and roast it in the oven to 140 degrees. Then I let it rest. Meanwhile, I blanched some red cabbage, then cooked it with garlic, balsamic vinegar, and the onions that the pork roasted on top of. I added sage, capers, salt, and pepper and served the pork with the cabbage and port wine sauce (see post below). This dish was pretty good. The pork was fantastic. Brining meat is always a wonderful first step, and brining works particularly well with pork. The meat came out moist and super flavorful. The sauce that went with the pork complemented it beautifully. We were less excited, however, about the cabbage. It was fine I suppose. But it just didn't compare to the pork. It was a bit boring, and didn't seem cohesive. For instance, whole capers stirred into the cabbage after cooking it? Odd. The cabbage wasn't bad, but as vegetable accompaniments for pork go, it wasn't great either. I would certainly make this pork again and just skip the cabbage.

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Well, we have been home in Michigan for two weeks and two days, and we are hitting the road again. We have a couple weeks of travel ahead of us. First we are driving from Michigan to Middletown, Connecticut, the home of Wesleyan University. There is a week-long conference there in my special gentleman's field and he is giving a couple talks. It's a reasonably long drive to Connecticut, but luckily we have good friends on the way. Tomorrow night we will stay with Melanie and Daniel near State College, Pennsylvania, home of Penn State. Sunday we will continue on to Connecticut. My special gentleman needs to be at Wesleyan all week, but since I am not a part of the conference I will drive into Boston mid-week to visit Rachel, one of my nearest and dearest, and her family. I will stay a few days with them, which I am super excited about, especially since I haven't seen Rachel's year and a half-old son in over a year. I am sure he has grown so much!

Next weekend we will leave the East Coast and drive back to Michigan, via Bloomington, where we have to return to stop to A) Clean my apartment, which we moved out of but didn't clean yet, and B) Pick up my special gentleman's car which is still in Bloomington. So next Friday night we will try to make it all the way from Connecticut to Columbus, Ohio (about 10 hours), crash for the night at my in-laws' house. Then Saturday morning we will drive to Bloomington, clean like crazy, then crash for the night at some friends' house there. Sunday morning we will drive to East Lansing, drop off both cars, maybe do laundry, etc... Then Sunday evening we will catch a train to Chicago, where I will be attending a workshop for a week. Then next Saturday we will take the train back home.

It's all fun stuff (except cleaning my old apartment) and I am looking forward to the trip. But I am also sad to go. I feel like we just got home, and indeed just tonight I finished unpacking the final box. So it is hard to pack a suitcase again and hit the road. But it will be fun! And I am only traveling for 5 days or so in August, so I can look forward to spending more time at home then!

On an unrelated note, today is my mom's birthday. Happy Birthday mom!!!