My name is Shawnda and I’m a recovering cooking magazine junkie.

I used to love cooking magazines. I had a monthly routine: I would gather all my new magazines and a sticky note pad and head for the couch, very hopeful about finding something new for next week’s dinner. Flip, flip, flip. Page by page. Magazine after magazine.

The clutter began to accumulate so I made a vow to cut back. Plus, it was silly to justify spending money on subscription renewals when I wasn’t enjoying the current subscription. Several of the magazines made it easy for me: I found myself less and less inspired each month, getting all the way through some mags without finding a single recipe that I wanted to make.

Some even post their recipes for free online. What once seemed like an impossible choice started to become really easy. I think I’m down to one subscription now (and it was a free one courtesy of spending too much money at Sur La Table).

One thing I do still look forward to in the mail is the Williams-Sonoma catalog. The Roast Pork with Pears and Onions on the current cover drew me in before I’d even returned from the mailbox. I’ve only had it for two weeks and it already shows signs of being a cherished issue – wrinkled, creased, water-marked, and even stained from being used as a spoon rest. We’ve made the breakfast tart, frittata, and now we’ve made the Roast Pork with Pears. Twice.

A great recipe from a free source! The bonus, my husband really liked it 🙂 The pork was easy and contained plenty of one of our favorite herbs, fresh sage.

Print

Roast Pork with Pears and Caramelized Onions

An excellent fall dinner: pork loin roasted with sage, pears, and onions

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
• 1/4 cup packed fresh sage leaves, plus additional leaves for roasting
• 3 whole garlic cloves, plus 2 cloves, minced
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 5 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 boneless pork loin roast, about 3 1/2 lb
• 3 ripe red Anjou pears, halved lengthwise
• 1/2 large yellow onion, cut into 1/2-inch thick rounds (keep the rounds intact)

Instructions

1. Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 400F.
2. In a mini food processor, process the parsley, sage, whole garlic, salt, pepper and 3 Tbs. of the olive oil until you get to a pesto-like consistency. Using a sharp knife, cut the boneless pork roast in half horizontally but do not go all the way through to the cutting board. Leave the last 1/4-1/2 inch in tact (this will make handling much easier).
3. Spread the sage mixture on one cut side of the pork loin, then place the other half on top. Tie the pork loin together with kitchen twine and tuck whole sage leaves underneath the twine. Season the roast with salt and pepper.
4. In a 5 1/2-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat, warm the remaining 2 Tbsp olive oil. Add the pears, cut side down, and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Add the pork to the pot and sear on all sides, rotating after about 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Place the onion rounds (still intact), in the pot in a single layer. Set the pork on top and place the pears along the sides of the pot.
5. Roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the pork registers 155, 45 to 55 minutes. Transfer the pork to a carving board, cover loosely with aluminum foil and let rest for 10 minutes before carving. Transfer the onions and pears to a platter.

Notes

Yields: 8 servings

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma

Estimated time: 1 hour 30 minutes