Honey Roasted Pork Loin with Onions, Garlic and Broccoli

Main ingredient for our third week is the all versatile boneless pork loin.
While we do eat pork tenderloins more (the size is perfect for two people), once a year my market has the whole loin for sale and I take it home and butcher it. The one end I always cut into a 7-8" roast and the rest into 1 1/2" chops (for grilling in the summer).


I can't resist the chance to roast a pork loin along with sweet potatoes. It goes so well with just about any vegetable and sauces but especially winter ones, like brussel sprouts and squashes.

This time around I roasted 1 large sweet potato for an hour, removed it from the oven and peeled off the skin.
Into a small earthenware ramekin I topped the mashed potato with a cinnamon compound butter I keep in the freezer.
I returned the dish to the oven to bake while the loin rested.




When ever I turn on an oven, I am baking for a few meals. The broccoli and garlic will be for for the soup tomorrow night.
I cut a few slashes in the fat on the top of the loin so that the honey glaze could penetrate into the meat.

Once they were done (about 40 minutes) I removed them to a dish. I squeezed the garlic out of their skins and cut the root off the onion, separating the layers.
I salted and peppered the vegetables and removed the loin to my cutting board to rest for 20 minutes.


After I removed the loin to the board, I drained the juices into a small saucepan and boiled it down till it thickened (but not syrupy thick).











I served a few broccoli spears along with the carrots and onions.


After dinner, I chopped enough pork for the Moo Shu Pork, a bunch of slices for Cubanos and a chunk of loin for the freezer.

Honey Roasted Pork Loin with Onions and Carrots
serves 6
Cook Time approx 90 Minutes

Ingredients
* 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for baking dish
* 1 (3 pound) boneless pork loin
* Salt
* Freshly ground black pepper
* 1 cup moscato wine
* 1 tablespoon juniper berries
* 3 bay leaves
* 3/4 cup honey
* 1 lemon, juiced
* 1/2 to 3/4 cup water
* 18 small cipolline or pearl onions, peeled (I used sweet onions, quartered. Could not find cipollines and forgot to buy pearl onions)
* 6 medium carrots or baby carrots, peeled, quartered, and cut into 2-inch lengths
* 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Instructions
Heat oven to 350º. Lightly brush a 9-x-13-inch roasting pan with oil.

Season pork with salt and pepper and place in baking dish with carrots, onions and garlic. Roast for 30 minutes. Add wine, juniper berries, bay leaves and all but 1 tablespoon of the honey. Remove the vegetables and add in the broccoli; continue roasting until thermometer inserted diagonally 2 inches into meat registers 150º, about 45 minutes more. Remove dish from oven and transfer pork to a cutting board to rest. Strain juices into a medium saucepan; add lemon juice and bring to a boil. Reduce juices by about half to a syrupy glaze, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove glaze from heat and cool slightly to thicken, 2 to 3 minutes. Brush over pork.

Slice pork and serve with vegetables.