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.

April 17th Michael's (My husband) 42nd Birthday!!

For my husband's 42nd birthday, as always I asked what he would like for his special birthday dinner, and he surprised me with his answer. He decided that he wanted BBQ'D tri-tip steak, but not with our usual Korean marinade. He wanted a garlicky, wine, olive oil and herb vinaigrette marinade. With that he requested smashed baked potatoes with butter, and buttermilk, and steamed artichokes with garlic, lemon and butter. This is not is every day meal since he comes from a family with very high cholesterol, and he himself is constantly battling his cholesterol numbers. So we thought it would be a special treat for his birthday. The meat was oh so tender, juicy, and flavorful. The smashed baked potatoes were creamy, with a yummy potato flavor that was not washed out as if we had boiled them, and they were not as rich as one would have thought either. For dessert I had fixed him a Banana-Chocolate Custard Tart. Talk about decadence! It was a banana pie taken to the extreme. The meal was delicious and filling an dso Autumn and I could only take a bite of the Banana-Chocolate Custard Tart. Even Michael was saddened that he could not have a larger piece of his birthday dessert. To make up for it he has been able to have a nice slice of it almost every night for a week after his birthday.

Many of you know that our entire household is gluten free. While the fact remains that Michael is not Celiac or gluten intolerant, he does live in a household with two others who are (Myself and our daughter Autumn). So I always tease others and say he is a Celiac by virtue of living with two others who are. Plus, if he wants to eat, he must eat gluten-free. Michael decided early on that it was much easier for me as the chief cook and bottle washer to only have to prepare one meal for the family and on the plus side it ended up so much less expensive for us. He has even learned to cook a few gluten-free dishes as well. For the most part our cooking hasn't changed that much, aside from breads and pastas and of course baking. We do have to be hypervigilant where and with whom we eat. We have to know what is on every menu and make sure that there is not a chance of gluten in the food or in it's preparation. But all of the delicious flavors and incredible textures, with a yummy side of visual appeal are all still there.

Michael seemed to really enjoy his birthday dinner, his decadent dessert and his gifts for his new (new to him) "Spider" scooter. He got his rear view mirrors replaced and he received a cool looking helmet and a very functional scooter trunk for the back. Autumn wants him to get a new seat at least for her because she says his seats are worse than the one on her bicycle. So not as pleasurable a ride as she would like. But she never turns down a ride. Do you want to hear something funny?! Michael finally had to fill up the tank on his scooter for the first time and it cost him a whopping $2.50. Mr. Frugral was truly in heaven! All recipes can be viewed on The Gluten Free Fox search engine.