Pork Roast with Currant Sauce

This is one of those things that I don't remember ever not eating. This is a classic food from my childhood and something I still make today.

• 1 3-4 pound center cut pork loin roast (usually comes as two halves tied with string)

For marinade:

• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp dry ground mustard
• 1 tbsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp dried thyme

Mix together marinade ingredients in small bowl or cup. Place roast in a plastic bag, then pour marinade over roast and seal bag, pressing out the air. Let sit at room temperature of 2-3 hours, turning occasionally.

The pork roast in the bag with the best marinade on earth.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Place meat in a shallow baking pan and roast, uncovered, until internal temperature reaches 150 degrees. Remove from oven and let rest for 10-15 minutes before serving or until internal temperature has reached 160 degrees.

The roast, resting.

While roast is resting, make the currant sauce:

• 1 10-ounce jar currant jelly or currant preserves
• 2 tbsp sherry
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1/4 cup dried currants (optional)

Combine sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and allow to come to a simmer over medium-low heat. Stir occasionally.

The yummiest sauce on earth.

This roast is obviously not a 3-pounder. I think it was barely over a pound and a half. I also didn't marinade it for 3 hours; it was marinating from Friday to Sunday (change in dinner plans). It didn't seem to suffer any ill effects. And no, it wasn't on the counter the whole time. It was in the fridge, thank you very much.

I also have started grilling these roasts on the BBQ. I insert my meat thermometer into the roast, set it to beep when it hits a certain temperature, and leave it. Of course, making sure the BBQ stays at a high enough temperature to cook the roast is a bit of a challenge, so the roast does require some tending. This time around, it reached the temperature of doneness after only an hour and ten minutes; if I had just left it to cook for 2 1/2 hours as specified in the original recipe, it would have been tasteless shoe leather.

I use jars of currant jam or preserves or something that already has the whole currants in it instead of adding dried currants to the sauce. It just saves a step. Also, plain old black currant jelly is nearly impossible to find!

The finished product. I made oven-grilled asparagus and quinoa with shallots and garlic for side dishes. We had this with a 2004 Smoking Loon (California) Pinot Noir.