I was out grocery shopping on Tuesday and saw this Cidre Brut on an end cap. I thought it looked interesting and decided I wanted to marinate a boneless pork loin roast with it.

I found this Cidre Brut at Trader Joe’s. It is really, really good. There are just 79 calories per serving and 6 grams of sugar. You pop the cork on this Cidre Brut just like you pop the cork on a bottle of champagne. I tried a bit of this Brut after I opened up and really liked the taste … it’s very good, I highly recommend it for drinking as well as marinating your pork loin.

I sliced an onion in half rounds and two apples into slices (leaving out the core). Along with the onion and apple slices, I minced 1-1/2 tablespoons of thyme leaves, smashed five cloves of garlic, and zested two clementines, using the orange segments to add to the marinade.

I placed all of the above ingredients into a large plastic bag (a large ziplock would work well. I happened to have a couple bags that I didn’t use for leftover bagels so used that to hold my meat and marinade … I rarely have leftover bagels, they are my favorite breakfast, after all). I then added the meat to the bag after making small slits on the top and bottom with a paring knife.

Once the meat was snuggled into the onion, garlic, fruits and thyme, I mixed together the Cidre Brut and dijon mustard. I thought this hard cider would be the perfect pairing with dijon since it is from France, just like Dijon mustard.

I set the marinading meat into the refrigerator for four hours. You could certainly marinade this all day if you like, or even overnight … I think that would only add to the flavor.

When I was ready to put the pork into the oven, I removed it from the marinade and placed it on a rack in my roasting pan. I placed the onions, apples, and orange segments into the pan as well. I figured it couldn’t hurt and would make the house smell even that much better while it was cooking. I patted the pork dry with a paper towel before rubbing it with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil and sprinkling it with a teaspoon of kosher salt and 3/4 teaspoon of pepper.

I really enjoyed the taste of this pork, the crust was so very flavorful!

Ingredients

2-1/2 pound boneless pork loin roast

1 onion, sliced in half rounds

2 apples, sliced (core removed)

1-1/2 tablespoons thyme leaves (minced or not)

5 cloves garlic, smashed

zest and segments of two clementines

2 cups Cidre Brut (or hard cider)

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. Slice onions in half rounds.
2. Slice apples in 1/4 inch thick slices.
3. Smash garlic cloves.
4. zest clementines and remove segments from skin.
5. remove thyme leaves from branches and set aside.
6. Add all above ingredients to large ziplock bag.
7. Make small slits all over pork (top and bottom).
8. Nestle pork into onions, apples, oranges, thyme and garlic in bag.
9. Whisk together Cidre and mustard.
10. Pour over meat.
11. Marinate for a minimum of four hours in the refrigerator.
12. Remove from refrigerator an hour before roasting to bring to room temperature.
13. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
14. Roast pork for an hour and 15 minutes (20-25 minutes per pound) or until internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.

Enjoy!

Until next time, Kris