Roast Pork with Red Cabbage, Apples and Onions

I found this recipe in my "Ready When You Are" cookbook and the author said she had adapted hers from a recipe she found in Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking".  I looked in my copy of that book and there it was - a recipe for roast pork with braised red cabbage (which was a recipe in a different section of the book).  Julia's roast was browned and then placed on top of the braised cabbage (which had been cooking for 3 hours!) and it all goes back in the oven until the pork is cooked through (she indicates another 2 hours). I took what I wanted from both books, cutting down the cooking time somewhat cause I was getting such a late start and it was fantastic!

My roast was smaller than either recipe called for.  It was about 2-3/4 pounds and I cut off a couple of cutlets to freeze and got it down to about 2 pounds cause I was worried about what I would do with all that leftover pork.

So with all that in mind, here's my version of Roast Pork with Red Cabbage, Apples and Onions.

Seasoning rub for the pork (these are the amounts given for the 3 to 3-1/2 pound roast and I went ahead and used these amounts for my smaller roast)

1 boneless pork roast (mine was a loin roast)
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp ground dried thyme or sage (I used the thyme)
1 small bay leaf, ground (I'd be interested if anyone figures out how to grind a bay leaf!)
1/2 tsp ground allspice
2 T. vegetable oil (I used 1T olive oil and 1T veg. oil)

Mix that all together, rub it all over the roast and either bag it or cover it and refrigerate (RWYA said 12-24 hours; Julia said 2 hours if possible which was good cause I forgot to do mine the night before and it probably was in the fridge for about 4 hours).

Braised Red Cabbage (both recipes were quite similar here - but this is what I ended up doing myself)

1 head red cabbage, cored and thinly sliced (mine was probably medium sized)
2 or 3 thick slices bacon, cut in small pieces
1 T. olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 tart apples, cored and diced (I used a Granny Smith and a Honey Crisp and I didn't peel them)
1/4 tsp. minced garlic
1 bay leaf (remove after cooking - or find ground bay leaf and use 1/4 tsp)
1/8 tsp. cloves
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
Few grinds of the pepper mill
1-1/2 c. chicken stock
1/4 c. red wine

Preheat oven to 325.
Fry up the bacon til lightly browned.  Add in the garlic and onions and cook slowly for about 10 minutes without browning the onions.  The bacon browns up more during this and it gets looking quite delicious.

After the onions are nice and soft, add in all the remaining ingredients, bring to a simmer and cook until cabbage is bright purple (above), cover and place in the oven.  I had mine in the oven for about 2 hours probably.  Check it every now and then to make sure the liquid hasn't all cooked away and that it is gently bubbling, and probably giving it a stir. 

About 1/2 hour or so before the 2 hours is up, get the meat out, put a little olive oil and butter in an ovenproof, covered deep skillet or casserole.  I used my skillet.  Brown the roast all over, til it is really nicely colored. (below)  I started with the fatty side down first, then turned it to both sides, then finally fatty side up.  Probably takes about twenty minutes or so. 

Finally, get the cabbage out of the oven, put the roast on a plate, put all the cabbage mix into the skillet you browned the roast in, lay the roast back in on top, cover, and roast until meat registers 150 to 155 on an instant read thermometer.  I have no idea how long to tell you because that was the one "glitch" I ran into - at some point, I checked my roast's temperature (probably around 1-1/2 hours in) and it was already up to 160 degrees!  So I just turned the oven off and let it stay there while I turned the heat up on my baked sweet potato and put the asparagus in to roast.

This is way more than enough meat for one person, but I've had two lunch sandwiches so far and think I will make a panini-type sandwich and try a little of the cabbage mix as a condiment for it.  I can also snitzle up some of the pork for a Chinese pork-fried rice meal, have another dinner with a sweet potato, some of the cabbage mix and a couple slices wrapped in foil and heated slightly...so I'll use it up!  It's too good to let it go to waste.