Lately, I'm trying to make Irish food more often; the attempt to hone some Irish fare skills thru the rest of the year, beyond St. Patrick's Day, is on! Not only is it fun trying out these different things, St. Patrick's Day feasts won't be such a stress. I will KNOW what I'm doing by the time it gets here.
Hey! That's my story & I'm sticking to it!
We have had a very busy week. And we really weren't sure how this next week would look. When we went to the store, we planned on getting entrees that could be fixed easily on the grill or in the oven. If my hubby's schedule allowed, he'd fix [insert whichever type of meaty product here] (keep it clean, people) on the grill. If not, I would find a way to fix [insert whichever type of meaty product here] (keep it clean, people) in the oven.
This past St. Patrick's Day, our non-pork eater wasn't going to be with us, so I figured fixing something Irish with pork would be perfect! Had the right idea for fixing the pork, but I didn't plan out the entire meal as well, so the pork didn't come out as well as hoped.
As I looked on good ol' Pinterest, I was trying to find some pork loin recipes that might work well with an Irish spin on it. Eventually, I found this recipe HERE, and tweaked it.
Tonight was a night when my hubby, last minute, wasn't going to be home to fix anything on the grill. We didn't thaw any of our chicken. That left the pork. Guess he couldn't grill/smoke it, so that meant I needed to get it in the oven somehow...
Then I remembered the recipe I wanted to Irish up a bit. I pulled up the recipe, fixed it more along the lines the recipe called for, but with my Irish-ish herbs.
Here's what I did:
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IRISH-INSPIRED HERB ROASTED PORK LOIN
Ingredients:
~ 2 1.5(ish) lb. pork loin
~ 3 T extra virgin olive oil
~ 6-8 T unsalted butter (I use Kerrygold Irish Butter)
~ 1 T garlic powder
~ 3+ T Worcestershire sauce
~ 1 T grainy mustard (I used French's honey dijon mustard)
~ 3 T+ apple cider vinegar
~ 2 T dried thyme leave
~ 2 T dried majoram
~ salt & pepper to taste (I used sea salt & white pepper)
Directions:
* Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
* Take a large skillet & begin to heat it at medium high on the stove
* Remove pork loin from package, rinse well & set aside
* Season all sides of the pork loins with salt & pepper
* Add olive oil to the hot skillet & swirl a bit to cover the bottom
* Place the seasoned loins into the hot, oiled skillet & begin to sear - about one minute per side ( I did it twice)
* Once seared, remove from skillet & set aside; make sure to pat dry
* In the same hot skillet, add the butter, Worcestershire, vinegar & garlic powder and begin to heat thru, breaking up & scraping up the brown pieces from the bottom; add a splash more of Worcestershire &/or vinegar to deglaze the pan (you can also use a bit of beer to do the same, if desired....it is Irish-inspired)
* While waiting for the sauce to cook thru & thicken, take a moment to rub the thyme & marjoram on all sides of the pork loins & add back to the skillet with the sauce
* After about 2 minutes, flip the pork loins to the other side in the skillet for about 2 more minutes
* If you are using a skillet that is oven safe, you can leave the pork in the skillet OR if you do NOT have an oven-safe skillet (or just don't want your skillet in the oven), then transfer the pork loins to a baking dish & pour sauce over the pork loin
* Whether you have your pork in a baking dish or left in the skillet - cover the pork with foil & place in the oven for about 30 minutes
* After the 30 minutes, check the temp of the pork loin - if the pork is at 160 degrees F, internally, then you can pull it out; if it is not yet or just barely at the 160 degrees internal temp, cover with the foil & place back in the oven for about 5-10 more minutes (you may flip the pork loins at this point, if desired)
* If you needed to place the pork back in the oven for 5-10 minutes, remove from the oven at this time & allow to set for about 5-10 minutes
* Carefull empty the cause from the pan into a separate bowl or dish & set aside
* Flip the pork loins again & begin to slice, carefully, into pieces about 1" thick
* When serving, use the sauce as a gravy to drizzle on the pork loin pieces
Yield: About 6-8
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This pork ended up so tender & flavorful. My hubby was really impressed with it! YAY! And this is how I wanted it to turn out on St. Paddy's Day.
I was so happy with it. Even though we served it up with mac & cheese as a side, I would love to suggest colcannon to pair with it & enjoy with some Mustard Dill Vinegar Slaw (HERE). Keep the oven available for the pork by fixing some Irish Soda Bread in the lazy cooker (like I did HERE).
It's a great meal to have any time. So keep working on this, and use it again for St. Patrick's Day! It will be a cinch at that point! And a good authentic meal, too.
ENJOY!
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