Roti de Porc Poelé

Saturday 5 February

Dinner was Julia's classic, from Mastering the Art of French Cooking vol. 1. We used probably our last frozen IGA bone-in pork sirloin, at 99 cents a pound (wahhhhh!). First defrosted and rubbed with thyme leaves, sage leaves, a tsp. salt, ground black and white pepper, and a pinch of allspice, to marinate overnight.

Then scraped off leaves (reserving them for later) and seared on all sides in oil in our dutch oven. Removed meat and deglazed with one sliced carrot, one sliced onion, two sliced garlic cloves, and a dribble of wine for 5 minutes covered on low heat. Scraped up the bottom of the pan, put the meat back in with the scraped off marinade and a bay leaf, and raised to high heat covered, then put into a preheated 325-degree oven.

Basted every half hour. After one hour, added another sliced onion and two big yukon golds, sliced. Kept basting, and when it hit an internal temp of 180 degrees and was tender (about another hour, but may need more) took the meat out, let it rest for 5 mins, sliced and served.

Accompanied with a New Zealand choice, 2006 Whitehaven Marlborough Pinot Noir. Very round (may I say yummy?) for a pinot.