Roast Pork: Greek Style

It's no secret that I love a good pork roast. The fat. The meat. The flavor.

Recently, I reposted a post from my trip to Paris in 2010. It covered my feeling towards my first (and only) Parisian-style Greek sandwich. It was great. Check out the picture of it (and me) here.

I decided to make a roast that would mimic the flavors of the meat in the Greek sandwich, while still being not too much work. The recipes I found all involved cutting the raw meat into thin slices, marinating them and then quickly panfrying or grilling them. I didn't want to take the time, nor did I have any interest in cutting up raw meat.

My method uses all the same spices, but with way less effort. I simply marinated the whole pork roast in a mix of herbs, spices and vinegar. The end result tasted very close to the real thing, though I know if I'd taken the time to actually slice up the meat and marinate thin slices, they would absorb even more of the great flavor.

I ended up making a Greek Sandwich Salad (read: no bread, but all the other great stuff that was in the original sandwich) with the cooked roast. Using my handy electric knife, I was able to slice the pieces nice and thin, which let the with plenty of delicious pork roast for the week to come.

Greek Spiced Roast Pork

Ingredients:

• 2 pound pork loin roast
• 2 tablespoons crushed oregano
• 2 tablespoons sweet paprika
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons black pepper

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a bowl large enough to hold the roast, mix together all the spices and cider vinegar.
3. Put the roast in the bowl with the spice mixture, turning to coat all sides.
4. Leave in the marinade for at least thirty minutes and up to overnight. If you are doing a longer marinade time, cover and refrigerate the bowl.
5. Once the roast is marinated, remove it from the bowl and place on a rack on top of a roasting pan.
6. Roast for 20 minutes then lower the temperature to 375 degrees and roast for an additional 30 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven and let sit for ten minutes before slicing.
8. Slice thinly (I love to use an electric knife here) and serve!

Oven Baked Pork Ribs

 Hello there, ribs. How are you? I will miss you for the next month or so.

You see, it's that time of year, when I abandon pork products and start a-new.

And so, this past Monday night, I made a big rack of pork ribs as my fond farewell to the porky-goodness for the time being.

My friend made up the dry rub recipe, and I have to say it's brilliant. I don't usually use allspice for anything but ginger-y baking recipes and marjoram has never made it's way into my kitchen. The combination of curry with these two spices was amazing. There's just enough sweetness there, and a little bit of the earthly complexity of the curry powder gives you layers of flavor in each bite.

I didn't make any side dishes, just ate lots and lots of ribs to store up the yummy for the next month or so.

See you soon, ribs, and until then, I hope my friends and neighbors will enjoy you.

Oven Baked Ribs

Ingredients:

• 1 large rack of pork ribs
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tsp allspice
• 1 tsp curry
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp marjoram
• ½ tsp pepper flakes
• ¼ tsp red pepper

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. Wash and dry the ribs in the sink.
4. Cut the rack into pieces if it won't fit into your roasting pan.
5. Coat the ribs on all sides with the dry rub.
6. Place the ribs in your roasting pan(s).
7. Let sit for at least 30 minutes (up to overnight, if you have the time).
8. Place the pan(s) in the preheated oven.
9. Bake for 30 minutes.
10. Turn the ribs over carefully.
11. Bake for an additional 30 minutes.
12. Turn off the oven and leave the ribs in the hot oven for another 10 minutes.
13. Remove from oven, cut the ribs apart and enjoy!

Cooking for One: Pork Chops

I mentioned here that I'd be working on a bunch of recipes for my friend Sara. She says it's cheaper for her to eat out more often than not, and I'm trying to convince her that with a few simple recipes she could make a bunch of stuff and recombine it all week to keep it interesting.

I'm not going to make her crazy or anything, just see if my theory is right: if you make (or buy) some good sauces and cook the basics for the dishes in advance, in bulk, you'll end up with enough variety in the end to not feel like you're eating the same leftovers again and again.

And, so, here is the first installment.

I started with a basic pork chop recipe. After I cooked it, I stored the chops in individual portions in the fridge in airtight containers. They should keep for a week this way, which means, Sara wouldn't have to eat

them several days in a row. I also made sure the herbs and flavors I used to season the chops would taste good with a variety of side-dishes. In reality, this recipe will work well with chicken, too (I don't eat lamb, but maybe it would taste good with that, too).

As we go through this experiment, it may turn out that cooking a quick piece of meat while putting together the rest of the meal might be the best way to go. My goal is for Sara to not have too much clean-up on her hands, and to keep it simple, she's a very busy lady. But, most of all I want her to enjoy what time she does have to spend in the kitchen to execute these meals.

I'll be posting the side dishes separately this week. If you'd like to see them posted with the main dish, drop me a line, I'd be happy to give that a go, too.

Pork Chops with Herbs de Provence and Honey

makes 2 chops

Ingredients:

• 2 Pork Chops
• 1 tsp Herbs de Provence
• Salt and ground pepper
• 2 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1/2 tbsp Honey

Method:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Place a grill pan or skillet on the stove and turn the heat to high.
• Place pork chops on waxed paper.
• Coat with olive oil.
• Sprinkle herbs de provence, salt and pepper over the chops.
• Roll the chops in the olive oil to coat on both sides, distributing the herb mixture over the whole chop.
• Put into the pan and sear for about 4 minutes.
• Turn chops over and sear on the other side for another 4 minutes
• Drizzle honey over the chops.
• Place the pan in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and let the chops rest in the pan for 5 minutes.

Enjoy!