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Brined Pork Roast w/ Curried Cranberry Apple Sauce « What We’re Eating – A Food & Recipe Blog
Curry Brined Pork Roast with Curried Cranberry Apple Sauce

Brined Pork Roast w/ Curried Cranberry Apple Sauce

A trio of holiday-y deliciousness!
Eater rating: 4.3 / 5  4.3

We’re eating juicy curry brined pork loin roast served with a wild rice, chorizo & dried cranberry dressing and curried cranberry apple sauce.

Why’s turkey gotta be the star of the show at holiday meals? Why not change things up a bit and do something other than a fowl? Both T & I readily agreed that we would rather be feasting on this juicy brined pork loin roast and it’s accompanying curried cranberry applesauce than dealing with a 15 pound monster turkey. Now, I’m not dissing turkey, as you can see we love turkey. We just like to keep things fresh and change it up every chance we get. Life’s too short to eat the same holiday meal twice a year, every year for the rest of your life. 😉

A Pork Loin Recipe by Amanda
Curry Brined Pork Loin Roast

For the brine
12 cups water
1/3 cup kosher salt
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup curry powder

1 (4 lb) pork loin roast
1 1/2 tbsp curry powder, salt-free
1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
2 tbsp canola oil

Bring all ingredients for the brine to a boil over high heat. Once the pot has reached a boil remove from heat and cool completely (to room temperature).

Once the brine is at room temperature add the pork roast. Place the brine and pork into the fridge. Allow the pork to brine, chilled, for 12 hours.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Remove the pork from the brine and allow the pork to air dry at room temperature for about 45 minute. The roast will cook more evenly if at room temperature. Using paper towels pat the roast completely dry.

Line a roasting pan with aluminum foil then place a roasting rack into the pan. If you do not have a roasting rack simply place the roast directly onto the foil.

Sprinkle all surface area of the roast evenly with curry powder and freshly cracked black pepper.

Place the seasoned pork roast onto the rack in the prepared roasting pan and evenly coat it with canola oil to help brown the outside in the oven.

Insert an meat thermometer into the middle of the thickest part of the roast. If you have a digital alarm thermometer set it to alert you when the roast reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees.

Place the roast into the preheated oven. Cook roast for 20 minutes at 450 degrees then reduce heat to 350 and cook for another 60 minutes or until the thermometer reads a temperature of 140 degrees. (If your roast is not 4lbs exactly, the rule of thumb is 20 minutes per pound of cook time, so if you have a 5 pound roast that would be a total cooking time of 100 minutes - 20 minutes at 450 degrees and 80 minutes at 350 degrees)

Remove the roast from the oven and loosely cover it with aluminum foil. Allow the roast to rest for at at least 10 minutes before carving. DO NOT cut into the roast before then or else the juices will not be able to be reabsorbed into the roast, leading to a dry hunk o' meat.

After the roast has had a chance to rest, slice and serve. Enjoy!

A Wild Rice Dressing Recipe, by Amanda
Wild Rice Dressing with Chorizo & Dried Cranberries

1 cup wild rice blend
1/2 lb fresh chorizo, casing removed
1 tsp canola oil
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1/4 cup dried cranberries
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp chopped roasted almonds
juice from 1 lemon
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup fresh chives, chopped
kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, add a handful of salt. Add wild rice to the boiling water. Boil rice for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, turn off the heat and drain the rice. Add the rice back to the empty pot. Cover with a lid and let steam inside the pot for 15 minutes.

While the rice is cooking, place a large saute pan over medium-high heat with 1 tsp canola oil. Allow the pan to preheat for at least 2 or 3 minutes, then add the chorizo to the pan. Brown the chorizo, cooking it all the way through. Remove the cooked chorizo from the pan and set aside.

Drain off all but 1 tbsp of oil from the saute pan. Place the pan over medium heat. Add the onion, red bell pepper, celery and dried cranberries to the pan. Sprinkle with a pinch of kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Saute veggies over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until the onions are translucent. Add the thyme leaves and minced garlic to the pan. Saute for another 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently so the garlic does not burn. Deglaze the pan with the juice from 1 lemon, making sure to scrape up an little bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.

Remove pan from the heat and set aside until the rice has finished steaming.

Once the rice has finished steaming add the veggies from the saute pan, the chorizo and the rest of the ingredients to the pot with the rice. Stir to evenly combine. Taste the rice dressing then adjust seasonings as desired with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

A Cranberry Sauce Recipe, by Amanda
Curried Cranberry Apple Sauce

1 tbsp butter
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
1 granny smith apple, cored and diced
1 cup water
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
1 1/2 tsp curry powder

Add the first 8 ingredients to a sauce pan over medium-high heat. Bring ingredients to a boil, stirring frequently to avoid burning, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer the sauce until the cranberries burst and the apples turn to mush, about 30 to 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. You can assist this process by mashing the sauce with a potato masher after the fruit is soft. Once the sauce has reached the consistency of a chunky applesauce, remove from heat and add the curry powder. Stir. Taste the sauce and adjust seasonings as desired with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Enjoy!

7 comments so far:

  1. Joy says:

    This looks so good! You just gave me my mid-day food porn. Haha. I haven’t tried brining the same way you did it: boil then bring to room temp. I’ll have to try that!

    I completely agree, turkey doesn’t have to be the only one to take center stage during the holidays.

  2. lo says:

    OOOH. This is the epitome of fall food as far as I’m concerned. Love the idea of that curry brine — gonna have to try that out!

    Love that turkey — but changing it up every now and again is… well, necessary!

  3. Bron says:

    *thud* <= my jaw! I mean, how am I meant to eat my salad after seeing this!? So hungry for spicy curry pork and cranberries… mmm pooorrrkkk, drool, slobber, slobber, drool…

  4. mattymatt says:

    Oh my God this looks FANTAAAAAASTIC. Love the wild rice recipe — easy, simple, sounds delicious. Great inspiration. Thanks!

  5. Sinclair says:

    Hey, looks good.

    I have just started my own blog at the above address, and wodered how i can list it on the food blog site?

    Cheers and keep up the good work

  6. Gourmet Nut says:

    yummm this was excellent! I actually used dried cranberries instead of fresh but it still came out great

  7. My wife and I recently made this dish but improvised with an orange glaze and chopped up pecans! Wowee!