All I can say is… AH. MAY. ZING!!!!!! I hit the jackpot on this one peeps, not kidding. Knocked it so far out of the park it beamed Mayor Bloomberg right in the head! Ha!, kidding of course, but seriously folks, this one is so good we were eating the savory-sweet caramel right outta the pan! And I don’t mean savory as in a sprinkle of sea salt on top just to call it “savory”. I mean the REAL DEAL, savory and sweet combo that about made our knees weak and could still smell it throughout the house — making our mouths water for HOURS! I’m not sure if anyone else has thought of this yet, (I’d secretly LOVE to think that I’m the first!), but I seriously doubt it. It can’t be li’l me, right??! But I can vow to this, it’s mine and I didn’t get it off of the internet, TV food shows, or out of a book! I made it myself and am happy with that alone. 😉
Sea salt has been such a wonderful, breakthrough addition to caramel and chocolate, that I really wanted to take it a step further, throw it into 4th gear, and just totally go for it “TOWANDA”-style! So I boiled away and crossed my fingers that it wouldn’t turn into molten lava and melt my pan, and the end results were shockingly gooey delicious and as rich as any caramel I’ve ever had! I’m going to repeat and recreate this sauce and make it doable to turn them into wrapped candies to eat and even create several variations. So, keep tuned in! There are going to be lots of neat surprises and unique ideas for the upcoming holidays! Because I’m thinking that these savory-sweet caramels will make AWESOME gifts. But that will be perfected soon for you. For now, I’ll get you started with this totally new, I think!, pork roast that will rock your world like none other!
Start with a simple pork loin roast that’s 2 – 2 1/2 lbs. Mine weighed 2.64 lbs., so anywhere in that neighborhood will work just fine. Any larger and you may want to double the rest of the ingredients. Mix the simple marinade ingredients and marinate for about an hour while you get your table set, side dishes in order, and enjoy a glass of wine. 😉 (Perks for the cook! 😉 )
Place into a shallow baking dish, pop into the oven, and baste frequently. About every 10-15 minutes. 15 to start, then more often as it gets going.
When the roast is done, remove to a cutting surface and let rest. After resting, this is what it looks like…GORGEOUS! Tender, moist and ever so juicy!
Now, you could stop right here and thicken the pan juices into a gravy with a little cornstarch slurry, but BOY would you be missing out! (*Don’t slice until you’re ready for the caramel sauce.) Oooorrrr, while the roast is tented and resting, make the most wonderful caramel sauce that ever passed your lips and tantalized your tongue! It only takes 10 minutes, which is perfect timing for the roast to be able to fully rest and let all of the juices stay intact anyways. So go for it! Just pour the pan juices into a small saucepan, bring to a boil and boil for about 10 minutes is all. It will literally turn into caramel. Pour over your roast to glaze and slice! Drizzle any left in the pan over the serving slices! (*If you weren’t like us and ate a bunch of it!!) Annnnddd… BEST. ROAST. EVER. Holy molies. I swear to you, if I served this to company I’d be quite worried that they might not ever leave. NOT kidding. It truly was that good!!
So I hope you stash this one into your back pocket or just go for it and make it this evening, because, wowzers, you will not be disappointed! Have a sweet fall day, all! 😀
UPDATE!!!: My recipe was featured in Taste of Home magazine!!!! 😀
ROAST LOIN of PORK with MUSTARD-THYME HONEY CARAMEL & SEA SALT
4-6 servings
1 (2 – 2 1/2 lb.) boneless pork loin roast
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
1/2 cup good chicken bouillon, cooled, *I only use Superior Touch Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbl. pineapple juice
2 Tbl. canola oil
1/2 tsp. dried thyme, crush between your fingers and thumb to release flavor
1/4 tsp. spicy brown mustard, or mustard of choice
1-2 tsp. coarse sea salt, to taste, for garnish on top of caramel sauce
DIRECTIONS:
Season pork roast with salt and pepper evenly. Set aside. (1/4 tsp. of each per side.) Place into plastic baggie. (*Or you can just place into your prepared dish. It’s not like it’s going to spoil in just 1 hour.)
In small bowl, whisk well the rest of the ingredients except sea salt until very well mixed. Pour marinade into baggie with pork roast. Marinate about 1 hour. (*Or you can pour this over and baste, spooning over for awhile, while the oven heats up and other needed things get done.)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Remove roast and place into sprayed baking dish fat side-up for help in basting. Pour marinade over making sure you get ALL of the herbs and spices from the bag using a spatula or by old-school and just use the side of your hand. (*Or bet you’re glad this was already done as suggested above, right?) Pop into the oven and bake for 45 minutes, basting frequently with marinade. I basted after the first 15 minutes, then every 5-8 minutes after that. The more you baste, the better it is.
Remove roast to cutting surface and tent with foil to rest.
Pour juices from pan into a small saucepan and heat to a rolling boil over med-high heat stirring occasionally. Turn down heat a tad to med/med-low and continue to high boil until a thickened caramel sauce, stirring occasionally. About 10 minutes.
Slowly pour over roast to nicely coat reserving any that is left. Sprinkle top lightly with coarse sea salt.
Slice and plate roast pieces, then drizzle and pour remainder of sweet and savory honey caramel sauce over slices. Do this rather quickly, because this is true caramel sauce and it will set up as it cools. Serve hot. Be prepared for “ooh’s and aaah’s!”
