More surprising deliciousness

I assumed that any cooking experiment undertaken while in the throes of this damnably stubborn sinus cold would have ended in an unpleasant mess. I was wrong: it was a delicious mess. And, the boy loved it, so it passes the most important test. So here, I give you, uh, a thing? Didn’t get around to a good dish name. Let’s pretend it’s a dish from exotic climes and call it “Moroccan spiced pork”. Would you ever find such a dish in Morocco, where most of the population is Muslim? Not likely.

Ingredients:

1 pork loin roast, about 3 pounds

5 ripe field tomatoes (use canned  tomatoes if you’re pressed for time, I won’t tell).

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon of green cardamom pods

1 teaspoon of salt

Start by marinating the roast for 30 minutes  to an hour, in just enough water to cover, and with the cloves, salt and cardamom added. A freezer bag is great for this.

Next, boil some water and drop the tomatoes in for just under a minute. Take them out of the boiling water and  into some cold water. When the tomatoes are cool enough to handle, peel the skin off and remove the cores.

After marinating, put the roast and the marinade into a roasting pan. Preheat the oven to 200° F. Take your tomatoes and pack them around the pork roast. Cover and put into the oven.

One million years later (okay fine, 5 hours later) take the roast out of the pan. The pan will be chock full of liquid now, so back into the oven it goes to reduce. Turn the oven temperature up to 425°F and put the pan back in. This is a good opportunity to bake an accompanying side dish, like butternut squash. Seize the opportunity! Leave the roasting pan in the oven until you have about half  of the original volume of liquid. Skim out the cloves and cardamom, if you like, then stir the mixture to break up the tomatoes.

When the pork is cool enough to handle, pull it into shreds with your mighty hands. Put the pork into the roasting pan and mix. Add some salt to taste. Ladle on top of couscous and enjoy.