This pork loin was waiting in my extra freezer to be served to a crowd… but then… my kids left the freezer door open long enough to defrost it, along with everything else in the freezer. (No more self-serve popsicles for them!) What a cooking emergency… 🙂 At least we were able to enjoy this delicious dish. The milk gravy was especially amazing. Now I will have to make this dish again for a crowd! This recipe was adapted from Martha Stewart Living; I doubled the garlic. We ate it with green salad and roasted potatoes and kohlrabi on the side.
Yield: Serves 8 to 10
- 1 boneless pork loin with fat cap (4 to 5 pounds)
- coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 sprigs sage
- 3 sprigs rosemary
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 10 large cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
- 5 strips fresh lemon zest (1 inch by 2 inches each; from 1 lemon)
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- Season pork with 1 tablespoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed pot (it should be just large enough to fit pork) over medium-high heat. (I used a 4-quart enameled cast iron pot.) Add pork, fat side down, and sear, turning as it browns, until browned on all sides, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Drain fat from pot and wipe out any blackened bits.
- Tie together sage, rosemary, and bay leaves into a bouquet with kitchen twine. Melt butter in pot over medium heat. Add herbs, garlic, and lemon zest and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Return pork, fat side up, to pot, along with any accumulated juices. Pour milk and cream over pork, raise heat to medium-high, and bring to a simmer. Partially cover pot, reduce heat, and simmer, undisturbed, until a thermometer inserted into thickest part of pork registers 140 degrees, about 1 hour.
- Transfer pork to a carving board and let rest at least 15 minutes and up to 30 minutes. Increase heat to medium and simmer braising liquid until reduced to 1 1/2 cups, 12 to 15 minutes. Discard herbs and lemon zest. Cut pork crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices and serve with milk gravy.
One Year Ago:
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Well at least some good came out of your freezer disaster. It’s funny because someone local who I follow on Twitter just posted that he was cleaning out his chest freezer as it had been unplugged 5 days ago and only just discovered! urgh!! This is a great recipe to do with chicken as well – I make it quite often, especially in the autumn and winter with lots of mashed potato for that gorgeous curd gravy!!
Sounds delicious to make with chicken! 🙂 It is really a autumn or winter dish… urgh!! We enjoyed it though.
I love this recipe and make it for my mom because she loves the gravy. A true classic!
I had never made it before- the gravy is fabulous!!
isn’t it? when my husband wants to cook I give him that recipe because it is really simple. By the way, you managed to get such a beautiful picture of the dish! When I made it recently it was just all beige and not too pretty looking
the picture really doesn’t do it justice- so true 🙂
Yum! I’ve always wanted to make this dish and never have. Yours looks amazing. I had a similar freezer incident happen recently, only ours was accidentally unplugged and we couldn’t rescue anything! It was such a disaster!
I’m sorry to hear about your freezer incident… I’m was happy that mine wasn’t completely packed! This dish is so flavorful and simple to prepare- let me know if you try it!
Whoops! But what a great save for your pork loin!
It was really good- glad to have rescued it in time 🙂