Goal #11: Try 75 new recipes (12/75)

Pork Roast with Thyme
From AllRecipes.com

Ingredients

• 5 pounds pork roast, trimmed
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tablespoon ground black pepper
• 3 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. With a small knife, pierce top of roast. Force garlic slices into the cuts. Sprinkle the roast with salt and pepper. Place bay leaves in the bottom of the roasting pan, and set roast on top of bay leaves, fat side up. Mix vinegar and thyme in a small bowl, and pour over the top of the roast.
3. Bake in the preheated oven 3 hours, or until an internal temperature of 160 degrees F (70 degrees C) is reached. Using a baster or spoon, baste the drippings over the roast frequently while it is cooking. Let the roast rest for 10 minutes when done before slicing.

Since it's just the two of us I got a roast that was about 1.5 pounds. I like the leftovers but any more than 1.5 pounds usually gets tossed.

I cooked the roast in an enameled cast iron dutch oven (my favorite dish to cook in!) and also added about a cup of water. If you make a larger roast I recommend using more water.

I overcooked the meat slightly because I was outside playing with Ryan and forgot about it. I cooked it for right at 1.25 hours and it probably would've been perfect in an hour. I also missed the part about basting but since it was covered I guess that didn't really matter.

I will definitely make my pork roast like this from now on. I loved the garlic cloves in the meat and there was a lot of flavor for such a simple recipe.

I served this with roasted zucchini and squash. I like roasting vegetables in olive oil, fresh ground pepper and kosher salt. I use this method for asparagus, halved brussel sprouts and potatoes too.