Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Caribbean-Style Pork Roast with Cranberry-Apricot Cornbread Stuffing

 Here is a guest post from my sissy.   I'm so happy she did a post for me.  I think it turned out great - she is a much better cook than she gives herself credit for!
Day 1: I made the cornbread and let it cool on the rack overnight, along with a few slices of wheat bread. I put together the marinade for the pork roast.....after all, the longer it sits in the yummy marinade, the tastier it is right?
Day 2: I got the roast out of the fridge and let it come to room temp before putting it in the oven. Got out the raspberries and an orange for the dessert and got that mixture ready to go and chilling in the fridge. Sliced up the wheat bread and cornbread and got the "stuffing juice" ready for it. Warming up apple juice, cranberries, apricots, and a cinnamon stick on the stove smells SO good!  Once the stuffing and the roast were in the oven, I put the frozen-yogurt mixture in my nifty new ice cream maker, loaded it up with ice and salt and let that do it's thing.  After about 30 minutes, the frozen yogurt was ready, I put it in a freezer-safe container and let it firm up for about 2 hours.
The dinner was super tasty, and dessert.....as always....was the best part.

Pork Roast Marinade:
(this recipe is for a 1lb. roast, so times it by how big your roast is, mine was 4lbs.)
Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
Grated zest and juice of 1 lime
1 tsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
Pinch of cayenne
Let roast marinate for at least 2 hours, overnight is best. Preheat oven to 350
Place roast in roasting pan, if you don't have a lid, cover it with aluminum foil.
Cook roast until it reaches a temp of 160. Once done, let roast stand on cutting board for 5 minutes before slicing.
Note: If you'd like, you can serve the roast with some fresh sliced pineapple sprinkled with chopped cilantro and a tiny bit of cinnamon.


mmmmmm


Cranberry-Apricot Cornbread Stuffing:
(I used the cornbread recipe on the box of the cornmeal)
3 scallions, thinly sliced
2 tbsp fresh dill
1/2 c dried apricots, chopped
1/2 c dried cranberries
1 cinnamon stick
2 c apple juice
4 slices wheat bread
Add scallions and dill to cornbread mix and cook as directed. For best results, let the cornbread and the wheat bread dry on a cooling rack over night. In a sauce pan, add apple juice, apricots, cranberries, and cinnamon stick.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer until the liquid is reduced by half, about 5-10 minutes. Slice wheat bread and cornbread and place in a bowl, add apple juice mixture and combine well. Preheat oven to 325.  Place stuffing in baking dish and cook until golden brown (about 40-50 minutes).
Note: I warmed up an additional 2 cups of apple juice and another cinnamon stick (separate) and added a little bit more at a time to the stuffing mixture. I thought the recipe would be too dry for my taste, and it turned out perfect....again, for my taste.



dry ingredients

wet ingredients

finished cornbread :)
 Raspberry-Orange Frozen Yogurt
3 (6 oz) containers of raspberries (you could use frozen ones too)
1 c sugar
Grated zest of half an orange
2 tbsp orange juice
Pinch of salt
1 c vanilla yogurt (your choice)
1 c half-and-half
Combine raspberries, sugar, orange zest, juice, and salt; let stand for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Meanwhile, whisk together yogurt and the half-and-half until smooth, add to the raspberries. Cover well and refrigerate for about 2 hours
Pour yogurt mixture into ice cream maker, and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions.  Transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze until firm, about 2 hours. The yogurt is best served within one day.
Note: I blended the raspberry mixture in the blender before letting it chill in the fridge, that way it didn't clog up the ice cream maker and it had a nice smooth texture.

nummies

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