Slow Sweet Heat Roasted Pork Loin and "Salsa" for sandwiches, etc.

I think I'm going through one of those phases.  You know the one I'm talking about right?  Sort of like over-exertion...stress...blank-mind...overflowing-mind...no motivation to write...type of phase.  I want to sit down and bang out a fun, interesting, delicious post...yet I sit in front of the keyboard and draw a blank.  Ugh.  So much I want to share, yet...  So, I may let the food do the talking for a few posts not that that's a bad thing.  Does anybody else feel it?  Bueller?  Bueller?  Well, at least feel this pork in your mouth...it's rock 'n roll.

Slow Sweet Heat Roasted Pork Loin 

w/ "Salsa"

from the kitchen of girlichef

~3½ lb. Pork Loin

rub:

1 Tbs. sweet paprika

1 Tbs. dried, minced onion

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. dried oregano leaf, crushed

1 tsp. fennel seeds, pounded in mortar

1 tsp. garlic salt

½ tsp. ground mace

½ tsp. ground allspice

½ tsp. black peppercorns, pounded in mortar

Habañero Honey

Olive Oil

4-5 smallish tomatillos

2 smallish onions, halved

1 head garlic, halved

2 c. gingerale, divided

If your pork loin has a good layer of fat, score it in a diamond pattern with a sharp knife.  Combine all of the rub ingredients and rub evenly around the pork loin.  Set it on a rack in a roasting pan and let sit at room temperature for 30-60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 475° F during last 15 minutes that the pork sits.  Throw the tomatillos, onion, and garlic in the bottom of the pan.  Drizzle a good amount of habañero honey all over the top of the pork, then drizzle with olive oil.  Pour 1 c. of gingerale in bottom of pan.  Place on middle rack of oven.  Once you've shut the oven door, immediately lower heat to 350° F.  Roast for ~1½ hrs.

Remove roast from oven, drizzle with some more habañero honey and pour last cup of gingerale into pan.  Put back in oven and roast for another 30-45 minutes, or until done to your liking.  Remove from oven and let rest for ~10 minutes.

Remove pork from pan, then pour all of the pan juices and veggies into a blender jar and blend to combine.  This will form the "salsa" for dipping or spreading, which is an fabulous mixture of slightly sweet and low, creeping heat.

The crust on the outside has that same slow creeping heat...so if you peel off a piece from the outside...have a glass of milk ready to wash it down...it can be pretty fiery (depending on how much habañero honey you used).

Our favorite way to eat this was to take some good, crusty buns and spread them with a good layer of the "salsa", then heap on the pork once we sliced it very thinly, and pile on any veggies and cheese we felt like...lettuce, avocado, manchego, and pickled banana peppers was an especially delicious combo!  We also used it in quesedillas.  It is such a great pork for slicing and layering.

*I'm sharing this post with: