Roast Pork Loin with White Wine Gravy and Salt Crusted Baked Potatoes with Sour Cream

Pork loin is one of my favorite Sunday dinners.  The meat roasts for a long time and the house smells delicious.  I like to switch up the potato and vegetable I serve with this.  This is one of the easiest things to make.  My husband actually got this started himself the last time I served this because he bought a pork loin instead of tenderloin and it was a weeknight.  I make another variation of this with a wet rub and pancetta, but I am going to post the simple recipe first.

When I used to make this for his grandmother, I always roasted seasoned, yukon gold potatoes and baby carrots in the bottom because that was the way she loved it and this was one of the meals she really thought of as a special treat.  It is important that the loin have a thick fat cap on it.  The fat will render down as you are cooking this and keep the meat from drying out.  If you have left overs, thinly sliced with the extra gravy on a roll of your choice is a fantastic lunch.

Ingredients:

For the roast:

1 3 lb pork loin

1 tsp dried sage

1 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp of kosher salt

40 grinds of fresh group pepper

Olive oil

For the gravy:

1 cup of chicken broth

1/2 cup of white wine

1 heaping tsp of cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 450.  Place the pork loin on a roasting rack (if you have one, it is fine if it goes directly in the pan) and place the roasting rack in a roasting pan. Drizzle the pork with olive oil to coat, season with salt and pepper and then sprinkle with dried herbs until the roast is well coated.  Place in the oven for 20 minutes and then turn the oven down to 350.  Cook for another 40 minutes and check the internal temperature.  You are looking for a temp of 160.  The cook time will vary greatly depending on how the roast is cut.  Generally I find the final cook time to be 1 1/2 hours.  Once the roast has come to temperature, take it and rack out of the pan and place the roast on what you are going to carve it on.  Let the roast rest for at least 10-15 minutes.  Turn the heat on the oven back up to 425.  Mix the broth, wine and cornstarch in a bowl or measuring cup.  Pour the liquid into the roasting pan, stirring and scraping up any brown bits off the bottom.  Cook the gravy in the oven for about 5 minutes until it begins to thicken.  Remove the pan and then pour the gravy into a bowl to serve.  Serve the pork sliced thin.

Ingredients:

4 cleaned red potatoes

Spray olive oil

Kosher salt

Butter

Sour cream

While the potatoes are still wet, place them on a baking sheets and spray one side with the olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt.  Flip over and spray the other side and sprinkle with salt.  Pierce the potatoes with a fork along the top and then roast in the same oven as the pork roast for 1 hour.  Once the potatoes are cooked through and crisp on the outside remove them from the oven.  Just before you serve them split them open, make cross slashes in the potato flesh with a knife and dot with salted butter.  Sprinkle the flesh lightly with salt.  Top with a dollop of sour cream and serve.