Monday, March 23, 2009

Spicy Pork with Rosemary Potatoes

I am a sucker for rosemary potatoes. I love the damn things. And I'm always looking for fun new stuff to do with pork (aside from carnitas), and this looked damn tasty last Saturday morning.

Spicy Pork with Rosemary Potatoes
  • 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
  • 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
  • 1 tablespoon garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 (3-pound) pork roast, cut into 4 steaks, 2-inches thick
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 3 russet potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 2 sprigs rosemary, stripped
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • Salt
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1 cup orange juice
  • 1 tablespoon butter
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
To prepare the pork: Place cumin seeds, red pepper flakes and peppercorns in a spice grinder and grind into a fine powder. Place in a small bowl and mix in garlic powder and salt. Rub mixture all over pork. Let sit at room temperature, 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, toss potatoes with rosemary, oil and salt. In a small saucepan, bring sugar, vinegar and orange juice to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and continue cooking Sweet and Sour Sauce until it reduces by half, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, swirl in butter and keep warm before using.
In a 13-inch cast iron skillet, heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. When pan is smoking hot, add pork and sear on both sides. Add potatoes and place in the oven until pork is cooked through and potatoes are tender, about 40 minutes.
Serve pork chops with rosemary potatoes and drizzled with the Sweet and Sour Sauce.

**Update**
This was a pretty easy recipe, though my skillet was too small so I had to do it in batches. I can't say I'm too wild about it. I thought it was okay, but I've had better. I don't have a spice grinder so I went mortar and pestle and it did not make nearly enough rub so I supplemented with already ground spices. I served it with Aylene's yummy greenbeans. I think the leftover pork will make killer Cuban sandwiches. Yum.

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