Bacon Wrapped Pork Roast and Smashed Potatoes

This dinner is honor of my son Daniel, who believes anything wrapped in bacon is go-o-od.  My son is 25 years old and a sargent in the army.  He is stationed at Fort Drum in upstate New York.  Daniel is my oldest child and my only son.  He has been in the army since he was 19 years old and has traveled all over the world.  He will be leaving soon for the Middle East for his first time.  So when he came to California in August 2009 on leave I made him this dish.  Of course he absolutely loved it.  it was slathered in garlic, one of his all time favorites, and then draped in bacon.  How could I miss?!
 
This year we were blessed with being able to see Daniel and my grandson DJ (Daniel Junior) three times.  Now that he is going to Iraq we will not be able to seem him for at least 12 months. That is going to be extremely difficult for our family.  His presence will be missed dearly.  In order to cope with my mother's absence I started finding comfort in making dishes that she had cooked for our family.  I decided that this strategy will help comfort me while my son is gone.  So as I made this dish again last night I thought of Daniel the whole time. I talked to him by phone as the pork was roasting in the oven and tried to make the aroma waft through the phone to him so that he could know that he is never far away from home.

This pork roast is tender, and so juicy.  Plus it is chock full of flavor.  It does not consume too much time to make and it looks very chic. The smashed potatoes is a simple side dish but looks very elegant, and tastes fantastic.

I season the pork roast with the adobo recipe my mother had passed on to us, which if you can guess consists of a whole lot of garlic, salt, pepper, oregano and olive oil. If you wanted an Italian flare to this adobo you could add parsley and sweet basil, rosemary, etc. I try to use fresh minced herbs whenever possible as the flavor is much more intense and savory. My mother taught me the technique of poking holes into the meat to add more of the flavor to each slice of meat. So I incorporated that technique into ths recipe as well

     Adobo Recipe

1 head garlic, finely minced

1-2 teaspoons salt

1/2 - 1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon minced oregano

2 tablespoons oilve oil

Mix all ingredients thoroughly.

Bacon Wrapped Pork Roast

1 lb. Pork Roast

Adobo

Bacon

Poke holes into the pork roast and add a little adobo into each hole. Then give the pork roast a nice rub down with your adobo. Once it is nicely seasoned then you wrap the pork roast with slices of bacon. You can use kitchen string to tie the bacon in place or in a pinch use tooth picks. Then you place into a baking pan and sear the outside of the roast at 500 degrees for 15 minutes on each side. Once seared, reduce the heat to 325 degrees and allow the pork to roast until an inserted thermometer reads 140 degrees. Once this happens remove from the oven and tent with aluminum foil. Allow it to rest for 15 minutes and then slice. Don't forget to remove the string or tooth picks first. 

Smashed Potatoes

20 Baby Red Potatoes, cut into quarters

4 tablespoons butter, room temperature

1/4 cup milk, warmed

1/4 to 1/2 cup reserved potato liquid

salt and pepper to taste

2 teaspoons chopped fresh chives

Take the baby red potatoes and slice them into quarters. Place in a pot of boiling water and allow to boil for 15 to 20 minutes.

Drain the water reserving 1/2 cup of liquid to add back into your potatoes.  While the potatoes are still hot add in butter, and a little milk, reserved liquid, salt, pepper, and chopped chives. Smash potaotes and combine ingredients. Serve with additional chopped chives over the top for some added color and flavor.

Scalloped Potatoes

Being Celiac we have to become really creative with our dishes.  Not to mention the fact, that both my daughter and I absolutely hate monotony.  We crave variety.  So I not only work diligently on my main courses, but strive for amazing side dishes to boot.  For our needs, I must keep in mind budget friendly items, as well as being inventive, creative, while still being tasty and with a spectacular texture.  Sounds like a great deal of work, but not really.  Because I know what my family likes and I love to cook.  I also love to experiment with recipes which helps to break up the monotony.  Today I am putting a bit of a spin on an old classic and I am making it gluten-free.  Today's side dish is Scalloped Potatoes.  My family loves potatoes and they love cheese.  Combine those two together and you have a masterpiece.  This is a simple recipe that takes a few minutes to prep and then I can put it in the oven while I am helping Autumn with her home work, or prepping the rest of the meal.  We love to make this dish when we are going to a potluck, and for family dinners around Christmas or Easter.  Everyone raves about these potatoes and are so impressed with them.  If they only knew.... For those of you who make scalloped potatoes from a box mix, you will notice that it may cut your time down in half, but it also considerably cuts your nutritional value.  You increase your sodium and you are essentially eating styrafoam like potato slices.  Trust me, I know.  I used to make these very same boxed potatoes and not think twice about it.  After having to go gluten-free,  boxed potatoes and boxed rice were one of the first things on the chopping block.  But I am very glad for the change!  It is so interesting what we condition ourselves to eat.  When we made the change we opened up not only our taste buds, but our whole world to the endless possibilities and we are so grateful for the more delicious and nutritious foods that we now create.  Take the little extra time to make them from scratch and you will be well rewarded.  The texture and flavor is to die for.  The potatoes are tender, creamy, and cheesy with a hint of crispness on the edges.  And always remember that when you make a homemade dish you are the one in control of how much fat, sodium, sugar, etc. that goes into your recipe. 

For substitutions you can replace the milk in this dish with chicken broth, or vegetable stock, or any milk, butter and cheese substitute you normally use.  You can slice the potaotes by hand but I love using my handy-dandy mandoline.  On the mandoline, potato slices are sliced evenly so your potaotes cook more rapidly.  I go for the thinner slice on this recipe to cut down on the bake time.  You can heat the milk on the stove or in a glass measuring cup in your microwave.  Last but not least, leftovers of these potatoes are fantastic.  My husband and my daughter love to take them in their lunch boxes even though they receive jealous glares from those eating the same old mundane sandwich day after day.

 
Scalloped Potatoes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
•4 cups thinly sliced potatoes, about 6 to 8 medium potatoes
•4 tablespoons Featherlight flour mix
•1 teaspoon salt
•1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked pepper
•6 tablespoons butter
•3 cups scalded milk
•1 cup shredded cheese
Preparation:

In a buttered 2-quart baking dish, place a layer of about 1/3 of the potatoes. In a cup or small bowl, combine flour with salt and pepper. Sprinkle about half of the flour mixture over the potatoes; repeat with another layer of potatoes and the flour mixture and top with remaining potato slices. Dot with butter then pour hot milk over potatoes. Cover and bake at 375° for 45 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle cheese over the top. Return to the oven and bake, uncovered, for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, or until scalloped potatoes are tender and cheese has melted. Scalloped potatoes serves 6 to 8.