Sunday Dinner: Vanilla Brined Pork Roast With Grilled Market Veggies

Cured Pork Loin Roasted with Parsnips in Maple Vanilla Sauce

Brine:
One 3 pound pork loin roast, bone in
9 cups water
2 whole vanilla beans, split and seeds scraped
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup salt
2 TBS cracked black pepper

Bring the water to a simmer with the vanilla beans and scraped seeds. Add the sugar and salt. Stir until dissolved. Cool brine to 45 degrees.

Immerse the pork loin in the brine and allow it to cure in the fridge for 1 to 2 days, turning and stirring twice a day.

Preheat oven to 425.

Roasting:
Pork Loin
salt and pepper

Remove pork from the brine and pat it dry. Let it rest 15 to 20 minutes.

Put the pork, fat side up in a roasting pan and roast to 145 degrees, about 1 hour.

Sauce:
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chkn stock
1/4 cup white wine
1 TBS maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 TBS butter
salt and pepper

Degrease the roasting pan. Saute garlic until fragrant, about 1 min.

Deglaze with the wine and reduce by half. Add the stock, syrup and vanilla. Reduce to a sauce consistency. Finish with butter. Season with salt and pepper.



Farmer's market beans, steamed and tossed with sea salt, lemon and butter


Grilled corn, zucchini and summer squash. We had watermelon and cherries for dessert. So good. Then sister and I stayed up late watching Disney's Christmas Carol, Lambert the Sheepish Lion and Mickey And The Beanstalk cartoons, and lots of crap reality TV (i.e. I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant). Classy.