Roasted Garlic and Chili-Crusted Pork Loin
For a change of taste, we decided that a Cuban inspired pork dish might be a good mid-winter respite. Remind us of the warmer weather we hope is just around the corner, or at least that is what the groundhog has predicted! So into my favorite cookbook I went exploring and found this serious garlic and chili inspired pork loin recipe. Other than cooking it on a grill using indirect heat, I did this dish in the oven while staying true to the recipe. A novelty for me! Easy and relatively quick to make. I complimented the dish with a version of black beans and collard greens.
--Tom
Roasted Garlic and Chili-Crusted Pork Loin
(Dinosaur Bar-B-Que cookbook)
Serves 6
The Rub
2 heaping tablespoons roasted garlic
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons ground ancho chili
2 teaspoons chipotle chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
The Roast
3 pounds boneless pork loin
4-5 large cloves garlic, quartered
Salt and black pepper to season the meat
Preheat the oven to 340 degrees or there about. This pork loin will cook slowly, which keeps it nice and juicy. You are looking for an internal temperature of 150 degrees at completion. For a 3# roast, it will take between an 1 hour-15 minutes and 1 hour-30 minutes. Use a meat thermometer to monitor the internal temperature.
Mix all of the ingredients for the rub in a small bowl and stir together thoroughly.
Remove the paper skin from the garlic cloves and chop into quarters so that your pieces are still rather large.
Remove some of the visible fat from the pork loin. It is not possible to get rid of all of it, so do not worry about seeing some visible fat. Using the tip of a sharp knife, make slits throughout the pork loin and insert the quartered slivers of garlic. Season with some salt and black pepper.
Generously coat the pork loin with the rub and place into your preheated oven..
After roasting to an internal temperature of 150 degrees, remove the pork loin from the roasting pan and let sit for at least 15 minutes on your carving board.
Cut into 1/2" slabs for serving.
I used a bag of collard greens already pre-washed and cut up. To a very large skillet, I added 6 cups of water, the juice from one lemon, 1 tablespoon of garlic, 1 tablespoon of kosher salt, 1 teaspoon chopped minced onions and the collard greens. On high heat, I covered the pan with all of the ingredients and cooked it for about 35 minutes. The collard greens will turn color and become tender after this time. I prepared these while the pork loin was roasting. These were surprisingly good! Even though no butter was added, they were actually buttery tasting and not bitter at all.
For my black beans I diced one sweet onion, one red bell pepper, one jalapeno pepper. I sauteed them in a large sauce pan with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 teaspoon ancho chili powder, 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder, one teaspoon dried garlic flakes, one teaspoon cumin, and some kosher salt to taste. After the vegetables were very soft, (about 10 minutes), I added one can of black beans and about a half cup of chicken stock. I let this concoction simmer for about 30 minutes while the roast was baking.
The Cuban inspired meal!
---Tom
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