Roasted Pork Loin with Spicy Plum Chutney and Roasted Vegetables

Serves: 2

INGREDIENTS

For the chutney:
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
Salt and pepper to season
1 lb Italian plums, pitted, sliced
1 small onion
1 clove of garlic
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1 chile pepper, seeded and minced
¼ teaspoon Chinese five spice (sub for ground anise or ground clove if you don’t have it)
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

For the pork loin:
1 pork loin (1 lb will serve 2 people)
½ pound farmers market carrots, washed, cut in half
½ nugget potatoes (add a few different varieties if you can), washed, cut in half
3-4 sprigs of savory (sub for rosemary if you can’t find it)
Salt and pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS
Start with the chutney: place all the ingredients in a heavy bottom pot over medium heat with some oil. Let the ingredients brown a little, then reduce the heat to low and stir. Continue to stir for 10 minutes (be careful, it can stick to the bottom of the pan so keep an eye on it) until it thickens and looks like jam. Taste for seasoning and set aside.

To make the loin: preheat the oven at 400F.

Take a big pan, put some oil in it and turn on the heat on high. Pat dry your pork loin, then rub it with pepper (don’t add salt now as it’ll dry it out). Place the pork loin on the smoking hot pan and sear it (let it be for 3 minutes and don’t move it!) once the side is nicely seared, turn it and repeat. Do not cook! You just want to have a nice caramelized crust. Remove loin from pan, place on a plate and cover with tin foil.

Lower the oven temp to 350F, remove the pan with veggies from the oven, place the pork loin on top of the veggies, sprinkle loin with sea salt and bake for 20 minutes until ¾ done or the inside of the loin registers 145F.

Serve hot veggies on a plate, then top with sliced of pork loin, spoon some chutney on it, and arrange a few sprigs of savory (or rosemary) around the plate.

Slightly adapted from a recipe from lacrema.com