Garlic and Herb Pork Roast With Potatoes, Wilted Spinach, and Cooling Cucumber Cream

Garlic and Herb Pork Roast With Potatoes, Wilted Spinach, and Cooling Cucumber Cream

  Ready in : 45 mins

You can never have too many main course recipes, so give Garlic and Herb Pork Roast With Potatoes, Wilted Spinach, and Cooling Cucumber Cream a try. Watching your figure? This gluten free recipe has 479 calories, 45g of protein, and 22g of fat per serving. This recipe serves 10 and costs $3.39 per serving. From preparation to the plate, this recipe takes approximately 45 minutes. 2 people have made this recipe and would make it again. If you have evoo, oregano, lemon, and a few other ingredients on hand, you can make it. It is brought to you by Foodista. Overall, this recipe earns a solid spoonacular score of 80%.

Ingredients

butterflies pork butt

butterflies pork butt

2.5 pounds

oregano

oregano

10 servings

rosemary

rosemary

10 servings

garlic

garlic

10 servings

baby spinach

baby spinach

1 pound

potatoes

potatoes

1 pound

onions

onions

3 medium

evoo

evoo

10 servings

balsamic vinegar

balsamic vinegar

10 servings

greek yoghurt

greek yoghurt

10 servings

cucumber

cucumber

1 medium

lemon

lemon

1

sea salt

sea salt

10 servings

Cooking in Steps

  1. 1
    I pull the leaves off two sprigs of rosemary and two sprigs of oregano (about a loose 1/2 cup of herbage). I peel and mince 4 cloves of garlic.

    rosemary

    rosemary

    oregano

    oregano

    clove

    clove

    garlic

    garlic

    ground meat

    ground meat

  2. 2
    Along with a few glugs of EVOO, some sea salt, and some cracked black pepper, I mix all this savory yumyum into a paste in a bowl.

    cracked black peppercorns

    cracked black peppercorns

    sea salt

    sea salt

    extra virgin olive oil

    extra virgin olive oil

    bowl
    bowl
  3. 3
    Then I spread it liberally along what will be the inside of my meat-wad. See the strings laid out below? Im going to fold this slab in half, encasing my herbaliciousness in the inside.

    meat

    meat

  4. 4
    See? I slide this baby into a ziplock bag and set it in the fridge to marinate for a few hours (overnight will work, too). Its going to take at least 2 hours to roast, so I take it out around 4:00 pm

  5. 5
    And get my roasting pan set to high heat with a few glugs of EVOO shimmering on the surface.

    extra virgin olive oil

    extra virgin olive oil

    roasting pan
    roasting pan
  6. 6
    Im going to sear every surface of my luscious wrapped pink pig, which will help it cook through to tender later. I leave the fat-cap for last. Bottoms down!

  7. 7
    Then cut side, using tongs to flip when the surface has caramelized to a lovely golden brown.

    tongs
    tongs
  8. 8
    I even brown each tip, like so.

  9. 9
    Finally, I press the sweet sweet slice of quivering pork skin onto the searing hot oiled surface of my pan. After a few moments, I flip it the final time.

    pork

    pork

    frying pan
    frying pan
  10. 10
    The house has already started to spell amazing, and the beautiful bacony aromas released once fat hits heat is almost more than I can handle. Almost. The promise of porcine perfection to come keeps me in check.

  11. 11
    Oh, Ive nestled a few thick slices of white onion under my pork roast, because I dont want the bottom to oversear before the meat can release some juices, and then I dont want the bottom to stew in those juices too much. The onion elevates the roast while adding flavor. I wrap this in foil paper, and set into a

    white onion

    white onion

    pork roast

    pork roast

    onion

    onion

    meat

    meat

    wrap

    wrap

    aluminum foil
    aluminum foil
  12. 12
    Oven. It will bake for at least 2 hours; larger roasts will take longer, but for 2 people this is just the right size, and just the right amount of time to inhale the noxious tantalizing aromas before some sort of crazy sets in.

    oven
    oven
  13. 13
    I make my cucumber yoghurt right away, because I want the flavors to blend. I start my peeling, then slicing

    cucumber

    cucumber

    yogurt

    yogurt

  14. 14
    Then chopping my cucumber.

    cucumber

    cucumber

  15. 15
    I throw it into a bowl, along with my yoghurt, 2 cloves of minced garlic, some lemon zest, the juice of 1/2 that lemon, some sea salt, cracked black pepper

    cracked black peppercorns

    cracked black peppercorns

    minced garlic

    minced garlic

    lemon zest

    lemon zest

    sea salt

    sea salt

    yogurt

    yogurt

    clove

    clove

    juice

    juice

    lemon

    lemon

    bowl
    bowl
  16. 16
    And I mix it all well. I set this in the fridge, so all the flavors can come together. Which they do oh, baby they do.

  17. 17
    When my roast is almost done (pretty much right at the 1:45 mark), I prep my spuds by splitting them into quarters, and tossing them with lots of EVOO, sea salt, cracked black pepper, and another 1/2 cup of chopped fresh rosemary and oregano. Were bringing the scent and savory of the pork and potatoes together by lacing them both with the same herb blend.

    cracked black peppercorns

    cracked black peppercorns

    fresh rosemary

    fresh rosemary

    potato

    potato

    sea salt

    sea salt

    oregano

    oregano

    extra virgin olive oil

    extra virgin olive oil

    pork

    pork

  18. 18
    I spread these out on a sheet pan, and give them another healthy dose of EVOO, just to be sure theyre very heartily coated. I set this into the bottom shelf of my oven, right above the heating element, so that my edges will crust up nicely. Youll see.

    extra virgin olive oil

    extra virgin olive oil

    oven
    oven
    frying pan
    frying pan
  19. 19
    We purchased this lovely bottle of oregano scented white balsamic vinegar at O&Co. on Newbury Street. Tonight was the perfect time to break it out. Have you ever had french fries with vinegar? If not, I highly recommend it. This is the same concept.

    white balsamic vinegar

    white balsamic vinegar

    french fries

    french fries

    oregano

    oregano

    vinegar

    vinegar

  20. 20
    I had set aside the large bowl in which Id tossed my spuds; it was still coated with residual herbed EVOO, salt, and pepper. Ive sliced my white onions into strips, and I toss them into this reservoir with another few healthy glugs of oil, and another handful of oregano leaves. Heres where my vinegar comes in; I douse a healthy serving over this beautiful blend, stirring it all up very very well, soaking each each crisp slice of white root with dressing. Every few minutes or so, I toss it afresh; this reactive base quick-pickles my onion slices transforming the flavor from pungent to perky sweet.

    oregano

    oregano

    white onion

    white onion

    pickles

    pickles

    vinegar

    vinegar

    pepper

    pepper

    onion

    onion

    extra virgin olive oil

    extra virgin olive oil

    salt

    salt

    cooking oil

    cooking oil

    bowl
    bowl
  21. 21
    For the last 10 minutes of cooking my roast, I remove the foil from the top to expose the skin to the heat. I can easily twist a wee bit of meat off with my fork, letting me know it is tender and perfectly ready to serve. I set the heat to 425, then stick my roast back in the oven so the skin can crisp.

    meat

    meat

    aluminum foil
    aluminum foil
    oven
    oven
  22. 22
    Meanwhile, my onions have pickled

    onion

    onion

  23. 23
    And Ive layered my baby spinach over them

    baby spinach

    baby spinach

  24. 24
    Before I pour my spuds, sizzling oil and seared spices and all, over the whole pan.

    spices

    spices

    cooking oil

    cooking oil

    frying pan
    frying pan
  25. 25
    I toss this very well, letting the hot potatoes and oil wilt my spinach, and blending the pickled onions over the whole batch.

    pickled onion

    pickled onion

    potato

    potato

    spinach

    spinach

    cooking oil

    cooking oil

  26. 26
    My pork is ready to go: the fat cap is crisped and blistered, and the meat is fork-tender.

    meat

    meat

    pork

    pork

  27. 27
    This hunk of lovemeat almost slices itself, and the herbage cleavage is like a vein of precious green flavor gold.

  28. 28
    Topped with a cool cucumber cream, my thick, tender slabs of herbed rolled pork roast with crispy, savory skin are perfectly partnered with my snappy spuds and buttery greens. This is an elegant, delicious dinner that welcomes the first breezes of early spring through freshly re-opened windows. Light, fresh, and fantastic: I wish I could have you all over for dinner, because this was a company meal!

    pork roast

    pork roast

    cucumber

    cucumber

    greens

    greens

    cream

    cream