Grilled Pork Loin Roast
A few months ago Ditalini picked up a marked-down 10-pound pork loin roast at the supermarket. No way could the two of us could eat anything that large, but it was too good a bargain to pass up, so we put it in the freezer to save for Thanksgiving, when we knew we’d have several guests. Then, earlier this week, we ran out of freezer space.
Out came the roast, and after a day of thawing, I coated it with a marinade and let it rest in the fridge for another day, then cooked it on the grill. We had two dinner guests, and now we have half a roast left, so two more dinners this coming week. Good use for a bargain bit of meat.
To prepare the roast, I pierced it in several places and inserted slivers of garlic, about five cloves’ worth, then brushed on a marinade made of 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, salt, pepper, and finely chopped fresh rosemary. After brushing on the marinade, I covered the roast and put it in the fridge for 24 hours.
The next day I took the roast out of the fridge an hour before grilling to let it warm to room temperature. With the grill hot and the heat high, I seared the roast for 4-5 minutes, turning it over once. Dripping oil from the thin layer of fat on the back of the roast caused the grill to flame up, but I was foresighted enough to have a spray bottle of water handy.
After searing the roast I reduced the grill heat to low, made sure the flames from the dripping oil were out, and turned the middle burner off to create indirect heat. With indirect heat the roast is not directly over a lit burner, but rather in between two lit burners, so that when the grill cover is closed the heat circulates around the roast rather than blasting up from directly beneath. On a charcoal kettle grill, the same effect can be created by moving the charcoal to the sides so that it is not directly beneath the meat to be cooked.
Gradually increasing the heat back to medium, making sure the dripping oil did not flame up again, I let the roast cook in the covered grill for about 1 and ½ hours. When the internal temperature reached 170 degrees, I took it off the grill, put it on a platter, and let it rest for half an hour before slicing it between the bones.
The roast turned out super tender, juicy, and tasty. Something told me a bit of mint jelly would go well with the roast pork, and it did. We served the roast with steamed Brussels sprouts and scalloped potatoes made with mushroom soup, onions, and cheese (normally we include leftover Easter ham with our scalloped potatoes, but since we had an abundance of pork we left that ingredient out).
