Pork Loin with Wine and Herb Gravy

Pork Loin with Wine and Herb Gravy

Ohhhh, this pork loin recipe!  Folks, I was quite pleased with this recipe.  I definitely recommend it!  I wouldn’t make this on a weeknight, but it’s a great recipe for Sunday dinner.  ?  The gravy is very flavorful, the pork turned out oh so tender, and served with my //balsamic potatoes//, it made for a nice, hearty meal!

You can find the original recipe //here//.  Her picture is much, much prettier than mine.  Which is fine.  I’m still waiting for longer daylight hours so I’m not eating my dinners at 2pm during the weekend.  Or maybe I could just bite the bullet and build myself a lightbox.  Ugh, who has the time.  I’m werkin’ on it, I swears!

So I am going to skip over all the lovey-dovey recipe admiration stuff – just make it.  And, go to her blog and check out her other recipes, because her photography is beautiful, her blog is beautiful, the fonts, the headings, just, ugh.  #bloggoals

Here are my thoughts!

?  I used about a 2.5lb pork loin roast for this recipe.  It was all I could find at Whole Foods that day.  It worked out very well, but it was done cooking in about an hour, a half hour quicker than the recipe suggests.  This could be due to several factors – one being, I think my gas burners run relatively hot, so I can never truly get down to a “low” simmer; and low-medium heat tends to be a rapid simmer.  So my loin was rapidly simmering away for about an hour – BUT – I kept a meat thermometer in it and removed it as soon as it came up to 150 degrees F, and it was PERFECT.

?  My gravy did not thicken up very quickly – also I was pretty impatient to eat, so I did end up using the 2tb cornstarch / 2tb water slurry to help it along.  This did make my gravy VERY thick though, enough so that I added a little cream back to it to think it out some.  But it gave the gravy a delicious, thick, creamy (my fav combo) consistency, though next time I may start with only 1tb cornstarch / 1tb water to thicken.

?  Lastly, my garlic cloves burned and I ended up having to remove them ? Like I said, could be because my burners run hot, or could be that maybe they’d be better off being added later on in the cooking process, rather than during searing.  It’s something I might handle a bit differently next time around.

Pork Loin with Wine and Herb Gravy
Serves 6

Ingredients
1/4 cup olive oil
5 cloves garlic, smashed, skins removed
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves, roughly chopped
1/4 cup fresh sage leaves, roughly chopped
2 lb pork loin roast
1 1/4 cups dry white wine (plus a bit more to deglaze the pan if necessary)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon water

Directions
1. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Saute the garlic, rosemary, and sage, stirring, for about 1 minute. Add the pork loin tot eh pan, carefully placing it on top of the herbs. Saute the pork for about 5 minutes on each side, then remove it to a plate. Add wine to the pan and use a wooden spoon to scrape the bottom of the pan. Cook until the smell of the alcohol as disappeared, about 1-2 minutes.

2. Lower the heat under the pan to medium-low heat. Return the pork to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Insert a meat thermometer into the center of the pork loin. Partially cover with a lid and cook for about 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours, flipping the pork and scraping the bottom of the pan every 20 minutes. Keep an eye on it, making sure there continues to be some liquid in the pan. Add 1/4 cup of warm water if necessary.

3. When the pork is cooked through (150 degrees F on your meat thermometer), remove the pork to a plate to rest. Meanwhile, increase the heat under the liquid in the pan to medium. If your pan has little liquid left, deglaze with a splash of white wine. Stir well to loosen the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the chicken stock and the cream. Whisk to combine well. Allow everything to warm through, then, mix cornstarch with water in a small bowl, stirring briskly to combine. Add to the gravy in the pan and voila, thickened gravy! Taste the gravy and add salt and pepper to taste if desired.

4. At this point I placed the pork back in the pan to warm it back through. I lowered the heat to medium-low, and just turned the pork in the pan a few more times. Then I removed it, sliced it, and covered it with the delicious gravy.