Tonight was not my best cooking night. My timing was all off, but I partially blame Fine Cooking – their cooking times for a 4-pound pork roast were way off in this recipe. Everything was still really good, especially the fregola, which is a small rolled and toasted pasta from Sicily. The idea behind making a huge pork roast for just three of us is that it’s enough to provide leftovers during the week. We didn’t especially like the pudding cake. The flavor was really good, but the pudding part of it was weird.
- Roasted Pork Loin with Maple-Mustard Crust (Fine Cooking #90, December 2007, p. 38)
- Fregola with Wild Mushrooms, Sherry & Cream (Fine Cooking #90, December 2007, p. 42)
- Fennel Layered with Potatoes & Breadcrumbs (Tortiera di Finocchi e Patate) (Fine Cooking #90, December 2007, p. 49)
- Maple Brown Sugar Pudding Cake (King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking, p. 418)
Wine: Copain 2004 Hacienda Secoya Pinot Noir (Anderson Valley, Californina). Another excellent Pinot from Copain.
Approximately how long should the pork cook? I’ll put a note in my copy. That fregola looks awesome!!
The recipe says to roast at 450 for 15 minutes and then another 30-50 minutes at 350. I think it should be at least two hours at 350 after the 15 minutes at high heat. In fact, I kept mine on high for a half hour, brought it to 350 for another 30 minutes, then turned it back up because it just wasn’t cooking very fast. Probably took another half hour after that, I don’t remember exactly.
I really loved the fregola (even with all the mushrooms!). I’m definitely going to try to find more ways to cook with it.
I tried the Fine Cooking (#90 pg38 Jan08) roasted pork loin and was blown away. And the time and temperatures were dead on. The second time I fixed this I browned the glazed roast in a skillet and skipped the 450 step, removed it at 145 to let it rest and made a wonderful pan sauce with a bit of dry white and a little more maple and mustard. total time still about an hour. My guess is if you cooked it as long as Sheri suggested, you’d dry it out, or overcook it, or both.
BTW, I served gnocchi but the fregola does look good.
Wine: Gnarly Head Old Vine Zinfandel Lodi 2005