Roasted Pork Loin With Potatoes and Butternut Squash

Winter means comfort food, am I right? Just the thought of a cold, winter day makes me think of a warm and cozy home, where I’m puttering away in the kitchen. As the aroma of scrumptious food cooking wafts through the house, it just seems to engulf all the members of the home in a warm hug.

Comfort food doesn’t have to be heavy, though, not at all. I bring to you this stunning entree, that you would be proud to serve for company, and simple enough to serve on a regular weeknight. Pork loin is called “the other white meat” because it’s almost as lean as chicken and has lots of B vitamins. As long as you buy your meat from a good source, pork loin is a great option for healthy meals.

Roasting is one of my favorite ways to prepare food, since there is minimal prep work and the oven does most of the work. Another great thing is that while the food is cooking, you can clean up the kitchen, wash the dishes, set the table, make a salad and when you take your dinner out of the oven, there is nothing left to do and minimal dishes to wash after dinner.

I was really excited when my husband gave me this beautiful roasting pan for Christmas. Using a large roasting pan is perfect, because you can prepare the side dish along with the protein and have the entire dinner ready in one pan. Not that’s always a plus for me! 

Ingredients:

Pork Loin:

2 1/2 – 3 lbs boneless pork loin

1 teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ground coriander

3 garlic cloves

3-5 sprigs of fresh thyme

3-5 parsley leaves

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1/2 Tablespoon dijon mustard

Vegetables:

2 lbs gold or red potatoes, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces

1 1/2 – 2 lbs butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped into 1 inch pieces

4 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch pieces

3 shallots, halved or quartered

4-5 garlic cloves, minced

salt, pepper

1 Tablespoon dry herbs (such such oregano, parsley, rosemary, thyme marjoram, etc. I use a mix of herbs by the brand Simply Organic

1/8 – 1/4 cup olive oil

5-7 sprigs fresh thyme

1-2 Tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Start by tying the roast at approximately 1 inch intervals with kitchen twine. I don’t use any fancy technique for this, just tie it into knots, cut off the excess and move on to the next interval.

Tying the roast will help it keep it’s shape while it’s roasting in the oven. As meat cooks, it will become more flat and lose the nice, round shape that it has unless it’s tied into submission. It will also help the roast to cook more evenly, since tying it will help to keep a more uniform shape and size.

Season the roast with salt, pepper and coriander. You can also use any other herbs or spices that you like. In a food processor, pulse the garlic, parsley and thyme until finely chopped. You can also add rosemary to the herb mixture, but neither my husband or I like it, so I never use it, but I know it would go perfectly with this roast. Add the olive oil and dijon mustard and mix to combine again. Actually, I think I prefer mincing the garlic and herbs by hand and then adding the oil and mustard and mixing it all together in a small bowl. I don’t like washing the food processor if I can help it.

Rub the herb and garlic mixture all over the pork loin. Place the roast in a rimmed baking sheet or into a large ziptop bag, seal it tightly and refrigerate overnight.

I really like to marinate such a large piece of meat overnight. It helps the different aromatic flavors to penetrate all the way into the center of the meat, as well as the salt making the meat more and more tender, the longer it marinates. If you want to make this dinner the same day, I would highly recommend for you to let it marinate for a few hours at least, so the best thing to do would be to marinate it in the early morning and cook it in the afternoon.

The next day, take the pork loin out of the refrigerator and allow it to stand a room temperature while you are prepping the rest of the ingredients. If you would put the roast into the oven right from the refrigerator, it would cook unevenly and the meat will end up tougher. Let is stand at room temperature for at least 30 min.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Place the pork loin on top of a rack inside of a roasting pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 min-1 hour, depending on the size of the roast. It should be 115-120 degrees Fahrenheit when you measure the center of it with a thermometer.

Meanwhile, wash the potatoes and cut them into  1 1/2 inch pieces.

Peel, seed and cut the butternut squash into 1 inch pieces. Peel and slice the carrots into 1/2 inch pieces. Place the vegetables into a large steaming basket and steam for about 10 minutes. (If you don’t have a steaming basket, you can place the vegetables into a pot, cover them with water, bring to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes and drain. You can also microwave the vegetables in a large bowl with a about 3 Tablespoons of water in the bottom of the bowl, covered tightly with plastic wrap and a few holes poked in it for the steam to escape.)

Here’s the problem with roasting vegetables such as potatoes and butternut squash in the oven – they contain a lot of moisture, and the first thing they will do in the oven is start to steam instead of get a lovely caramelization. If I were roasting them separately and I was more patient (impatience is one of my biggest flaws) I would be ok with that and just roast them for a longer time. In fact, when I roast the butternut squash by itself, that’s just what I do. However, the potatoes are another matter. They take SO long to cook when roasting in the oven. At least 2 hours. It will take even longer to get a golden color on the potatoes. Steaming the potatoes, carrots and butternut squash will give it a boost in cooking, by precooking them slightly and take out a lot of the liquid.

In a large bowl, combine the shallots, garlic, thyme, dry herbs, salt, freshly ground black pepper and olive oil. Add the partially steamed vegetables to the bowl and mix to combine.

When the pork loin has roasted for 45 minutes, increase the temperature to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. When the oven has preheated to the higher temperature, take out the roasting pan and add the vegetables to the bottom of the roasting pan.

Since the pan is hot, the vegetables will sizzle when they hit the bottom of the pan and start roasting right away. Roast the pork loin and the vegetables for another 25-35 minutes, until the center of the pork reaches 145-150 degrees Fahrenheit. Take the pork loin to of the pan and let it rest while you crisp up the vegetables even more. As I always say, it’s very important to let any piece of meat rest, so that the juices redistribute all over the meat and won’t all drip out if you cut into it right away. You meat will be SO juicy and tender if you give it time to relax. It’s so juicy that you don’t even need a sauce to got with it. The pork will continue to cook as it rests, so don’t be nervous that it will raw in the center – it will be perfectly done.

Meanwhile, I move the roasting pan with the vegetables to the very bottom shelf of the oven and let them crisp up on the bottom for about 15 minutes and then move them to the top shelf of the oven and broil them for another 5-10  minutes, depending on your oven. Take the vegetables out of the oven and add more fresh thyme and the minced fresh parsley. Cut the roast into as thick or thin pieces as you prefer and serve them with the vegetables on the side.

You can also slice the leftover meat and use it in sandwiches. Absolutely delicious, trust me.