herb-crusted pork roast

I used a loin roast for this, which had very little fat on it. I cut a pocket into it, then let it sit in a salt/sugar/water brine for a couple hours. While the roast was soaking, I prepared the root veggies for roasting. I used one medium rutabaga, four medium red potatoes, two large leeks, half a bag of baby carrots, and ten cloves of garlic. I chopped everything except the garlic into 1" pieces and tossed them with olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary. This mixture went onto two heavy non-stick sheet pans and into a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes, then the pans were rotated and cooked for another 40 minutes.

For the roast, when it was done soaking I rinsed it thoroughly in cold water and patted it dry. I stuffed it with a mixture of fresh parsley, thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese. Some of this mixture also got smeared on top of the roast. The roast was then topped with a mixture of a little Parmesan, olive oil, and fresh bread crumbs, along with salt and pepper, and a minced shallot. I cooked the roast at 350 degrees for a total of about 75 minutes, until it reached 150 degrees internally. I then tented the roast with foil and let it sit for 10 minutes while I steamed some fresh green beans. Once those were done, we were ready to eat!

I actually messed up the crust quite a lot. I misread the recipe and put about 4 times the Parmesan in it that I should have. It made it fairly salty, but still quite good. The brine kept the meat nicely moist through the long cooking, and the roasted root veggies came out nicely crisp and earthy-tasting. All in all, a really good Sunday dinner.