Today was a fabulous day! The Tuesday before Thanksgiving is the day my cousin, Molly, arrives at my house so we can prep for the big day together. I look forward to this day each and every year. Molly and I have such a wonderful time getting ready for Thanksgiving together. Today, Molly brought her niece, Ava, along. Molly was at her sister, Katie’s, house last night. They will all be here for Thanksgiving and Ava wanted to come early with Aunt Molly to hang out with us. Ava is such a sweet girl, I’m loving spending today with her.  Our day started at Smashburger in Del Mar, where we met for lunch. I enjoyed their Harvest Salad with grilled chicken (I love that one!). I know, it’s a burger place, but they have good salads and I knew I’d be making a nice dinner for all of us and wanted to be a bit on the hungry side.

I’d been planning on making a boneless pork loin roast for dinner tonight using fall flavorings. To me that meant starting with cinnamon and going from there. I ended up mixing chili powder, oregano, kosher salt and pepper to to make up my dry rub. While I was in the shower, an idea to make a glaze out of orange juice and honey came to me. I usually do my thinking on my morning walks while I’m exercising, but this week is a busy one, so I haven’t been out walking … I seem to be coming up with my recipes in the shower instead.

I started with a 2-1/2 pound boneless pork loin roast. I made several small slits with a paring knife in the top of my roast. I like to do this so the flavoring seeps into the meat a bit. I minced three garlic cloves and set them aside. Next, I mixed together the seasonings I’d be using for the dry rub. I combined 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, 1-1/2 teaspoons oregano, 2 teaspoons kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.

I poured 2 tablespoons olive oil in my cast iron skillet. I rubbed half the spice mixture on the bottom of the roast and placed it in the pan. To the top of the roast, I added the minced garlic and then the dry rub.

I seared the meat on the bottom for 4 minutes, turned it and seared the top for 3 minutes. I turned it back over so the garlic was on top. My pan seemed a little dry, so I added 2 additional tablespoons of olive oil to the pan before placing my cast iron skillet in a preheated 375 degree oven for 55 minutes.

I pulled the roast out of the oven to rest.

While it was resting, I mixed orange juice and honey together and brought it to a boil on my cooktop, whisking it periodically. This only took a few minutes. I then drizzled the orange juice and honey glaze over the rested pork before slicing.

This was a delicious pork roast! I hope if you try this recipe, you will enjoy it as well as we did.

Ingredients

2-1/2 pound boneless pork loin roast

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1-1/2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil (plus 2 more, if needed)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup orange juice

2 tablespoons honey

Directions

1. Place olive oil in cast iron skillet
2. In a small bowl, mix together cinnamon, chili powder, oregano, kosher salt, and pepper.
3. Rub bottom half of pork with half the dry rub.
4. Pierce several slits in top of pork and sprinkle minced garlic over roast. Add rest of dry rub.
5. Heat olive oil and place roast in skillet.
6. Sear for 4 minutes on bottom, turn and sear 3 minutes on top.
7. Place in preheated 375 degree oven for 50-60 minutes, until internal temperature reaches 145 degrees.
8. In a small skillet, bring orange juice and honey to a boil.
9. Drizzle over pork before slicing.

Enjoy!

Until next time, Kris