Spice and Rosemary Pork Roast with Onions, and the festive awaiting of Advent
The preparations, the excitement, the arrival of loved ones to spend the holidays together. I want to help you out by offering a recipe that looks and tastes extra special but that it’s easy to make and will not break the bank: spice and rosemary pork roast with onions.
The weeks leading from Thanksgiving to Christmas are some of the busiest of the year and yet, when Advent starts, they should become some of the most still and serene. Easy to say but hard to achieve, right? And if you’re hosting guests, an almost impossible feat.
My two older sons arrive this week, and I am ecstatic. We don’t see them often enough anymore, their careers and lives having taken them to far away cities and countries where they find personal and professional fulfillment. So it’s no wonder that, while I’m getting my soul ready for the coming of Jesus, I’m also getting my house ready to welcome my sons. What a joy!
I personally, and many of us cooks, will make an extra effort and prepare more elaborate dishes or ones that include ingredients we don’t consume on a regular basis. Yes, Christmas is special, Jesus is born! And it calls for special everything, and not just in the food area: we decorate our homes inside and out, make them sparkle with glitter and lights. We set up the Nativity scene, decorate a Christmas tree and spend way too much time shopping for presents. We attend Christmas parties and other get-togethers, concerts and even a ballet or a musical. We bake bake bake. Yes, it’s all in the preparations, while at the same time, we try to keep reminding ourselves that this is the season of Advent, and the thing we have to prepare is our hearts.
In this (most likely) last blog post of the year, I want to offer a special meal that will delight your guests and will look extra special on the table, but that it’s simple enough to make to not take you away from your loved ones for long. Spice and rosemary pork roast with onions ticks all the boxes. Besides, as I say, any roasted anything is not even work, as the oven does the work for you.
So appropriately, to accompany this recipe, and as the days to Christmas approach, a few festive photos of last few weeks: David’s Christmas formal, Natacha‘s birthday, Christmas parties and out and about in Fort Wayne around Thanksgiving and beyond —Valencia! London!
Wishing you a joyous Christmas and holiday season.
SPICE AND ROSEMARY PORK ROAST WITH ONIONS
Asado de cerdo especiado con romero y cebollas
Ingredients:
2 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp black peppercorns
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp Pimentón de la Vera
3 tsp coarse sea salt
A few branches fresh rosemary
1/4 + 2 Tbs cup extra virgin olive oil
1 rack of pork (8-bone, about 4 Lb)
5 onions, mixed yellow and red
3 bay leaves
In a small skillet, toast the peppercorns, fennel seeds and cumin seeds. Grind them in a spice mill or with a mortar and pestle (this is my preferred method), together with the red pepper flakes. Add 2 tsp sea salt and Pimentón and stir together.
Rub the spice mixture all over the pork and refrigerate for a minimum of 6 hours, preferably overnight.
Remove the pork from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 2 hours before roasting.
Chop the rosemary leaves very finely and place in a small bowl. Add 1/4 cup olive oil and let infuse while the pork is coming to room temperature.
Preheat the oven to 500ºF.
Peel and quarter the onions. Place them in a bowl large enough to hold them and toss them with the bay leaves and 2 Tbs olive oil. Season with sea salt.
Rub the pork all over with the rosemary oil.
Spread the onions and bay leaves on the bottom of a roasting pan and placce the rack of pork on top. Roast at 500ºF for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 325ºF and continue to roast until the pork internal temperature reaches 135ºF, about 1 1/2 hours.
Transfer the meat to a cutting board and tent with foil. Let rest for 10 minutes.
Slice the pork roast between the rib bones to make 8 individual chops and serve with the roasted onions.
SPICE AND ROSEMARY PORK ROAST WITH ONIONS
Ingredients
- 2 tsp fennel seeds
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 tsp black peppercorns
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- 2 tsp Pimentón de la Vera
- 3 tsp coarse sea salt
- A few branches fresh rosemary
- 1/4 + 2 Tbs cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 rack of pork 8-bone, about 4 Lb
- 5 onions mixed yellow and red
- 3 bay leaves
Instructions
- In a small skillet, toast the peppercorns, fennel seeds and cumin seeds. Grind them in a spice mill or with a mortar and pestle (this is my preferred method), together with the red pepper flakes. Add 2 tsp sea salt and Pimentón and stir together.
- Rub the spice mixture all over the pork and refrigerate for a minimum of 6 hours, preferably overnight.
- Remove the pork from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 2 hours before roasting.
- Chop the rosemary leaves very finely and place in a small bowl. Add 1/4 cup olive oil and let infuse while the pork is coming to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 500ºF.
- Peel and quarter the onions. Place them in a bowl large enough to hold them and toss them with the bay leaves and 2 Tbs olive oil. Season with sea salt.
- Rub the pork all over with the rosemary oil.
- Spread the onions and bay leaves on the bottom of a roasting pan and placce the rack of pork on top. Roast at 500ºF for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 325ºF and continue to roast until the pork internal temperature reaches 135ºF, about 1 1/2 hours.
- Transfer the meat to a cutting board and tent with foil. Let rest for 10 minutes.
- Slice the pork roast between the rib bones to make 8 individual chops and serve with the roasted onions.
