Slow Cooker: Roast Pork in Onion Gravy

Roast Pork in Onion Gravy

I got two wonderful gifts for Christmas, a Kitchen-Aid cast iron enamel-coated dutch oven (similar to the Cruset that is so popular these days) from my mother-in-law and a fancy new slow cooker from hubby. Given my devotion to cooking, and the fact that I asked for cooking gifts, these were heartily welcomed. Unlike our first Christmas when hubby gave me a toaster oven (that I hadn't asked for) and is now scarred for life, he did good, really good!

I must admit, I haven't been a big slow cooker user. I do make a mean steel-cut porridge in it, and occasionally other dishes, I haven't made it a focus. If I had when we lived in our commuting city, I probably wouldn't have eaten so much processed or restaurant food. But my new slow cooker is bigger (7 litres/quarts) and is very cool because you can brown your meat in it because the liner is made of aluminum that's coated with a non-stick surface. Super good because those precious brown bits are what make food taste good, and great for the lazy likes of me because there's only the one pot to clean up.

I let hubby pick from a whole slew of roast recipes I found and his choice was Pork Roast in Onion Gravy from Canadian Living. Canadian Living is a Canadian institution when it comes to cooking. And rightly so. The recipes are very good and triple-tested in their kitchens.

The roast all browned and ready to cook.

I wouldn't call this a super fast dish to make, but I made it the night before and put it on at noon the next day (You could put it on low and leave for a day at work too, but I wanted to try my dual cooking setting.)

The cooked roast, lovely colour!

I loved being able to thicken the gravy right on the stove. Very fast. While hubby carved, I thickened.

I added mushrooms, lovely. Here it is on the stove thickening.

The end result was a lovely, tender and tasty roast of pork — something I've always found very hit and miss in the past (the over-cooked roast). I used caraway seeds because I love them, but I'm sure cumin, with it's fresh taste, would be very similar. Next time I will add more because I LOVE the taste of caraway.

We couldn't find a bone-in pork roast, this was on sale and turned out fabulously.

Oh so good! The mushrooms were a great addition. We ate it for two meals and put the rest of the meat and gravy in the freezer for a quick meal down the way. We even had a pork roast sandwich one day for lunch!

With frozen veg, it was a great and easy meal!

 

 

Pork Roast in Onion Gravy

By The Canadian Living Test Kitchen

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Tender pork simmered in a rich onion gravy is a perfect match for mashed potatoes any night of the week. You can easily substitute a boneless pork loin roast if you like; just reduce the cooking time to five hours.

This recipe makes 12 serving(s)

Nutritional information available online.

Ingredients

1/2 1/2tsp tsp(2 mL) (2 mL) whole cloves 1 1bone-in rib-end pork loin roastbone-in rib-end pork loin roasts, (about 4 lb/2 kg) 1/2 1/2tsp tsp(2 mL) (2 mL) pepper 2 2tbsp tbsp(25 mL) (25 mL) vegetable oil Onion Gravy: 4 4oniononions, sliced 1 1tsp tsp(5 mL) (5 mL) cumin or carawayseeds 1 1cup cup(250 mL) (250 mL) white wine 1 1cup cup(250 mL) (250 mL) chicken stock, (or 2 cups/500 mL chicken stock) 1/4 1/4cup cup(50 mL) (50 mL) tomato paste 2 2tbsp tbsp(25 mL) (25 mL) cider vinegar 4 4cloves garlic, minced 2 2bay leafbay leaves 1/2 1/2tsp tsp(2 mL) (2 mL) salt 1/4 1/4cup cup(50 mL) (50 mL) cornstarch 1/4 1/4cup cup(50 mL) (50 mL) minced fresh parsley

Preparation:

Stick cloves into pork; sprinkle with pepper. In large skillet, heat half of the oil over medium-high heat; brown pork on all sides, about 8 minutes. Transfer to plate; pour off fat in pan.
Onion Gravy: Add remaining oil to pan; saut?nions and cumin seeds until golden, about 8 minutes. Scrape into slow-cooker. Add pork and any accumulated juices, wine, stock, tomato paste, vinegar, garlic, bay leaves and salt. Cover and cook on low until pork is tender, about 6 hours.
Transfer pork to plate; tent with foil. Skim off any fat from gravy. Whisk cornstarch with 1/4 cup (50 mL) water; stir into gravy. Increase heat to high; cover and cook until thickened, about 15 minutes. Discard bay leaves. Stir in parsley. Serve pork with gravy.

Source: Canadian Living Magazine: November 2004

One thing I ABSOLUTELY would not do again is put whole cloves into the pork. No cloves at all for this gal who has been scarred by dentists using them as an antiseptic for packing wisdom teeth. I will say no more but that pork roast and memories of dentistry do not make for a good eating experience!

Did I mention that my in-laws gave us a freezer full of food when we visited at Christmas? We won't have to buy meat for months! But of course, we did buy this roast. Sometimes, no matter how full your freezer is you still end up adding more.

This is a definite keeper!

Kathy