This week was mostly a week of meals I had already posted recipes for, so I really didn’t have anything new to write about other than this one meal that I made. I had gone shopping at Adam’s last week and they had a center cut rack of pork on sale for a really good price. I had never made one before, the rack only cost about $5.00 and would more than feed the three of us, so I figured what the heck and I bought one. Then I had to try to find a recipe to use to make it. I looked around at all the usual places I got on the Internet for recipes, but I didn’t really see what I liked, so I put my faith in Google and went looking there. That is where I turned up this recipe, on a website called A Culinary Journey With Chef Dennis. The recipe sounded good, it was easy, and I had all the ingredients, so it was the winner.

Oven Roasted Rack of Pork

1 8 bone center cut rack of pork, frenched

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons Montreal Steak Seasoning

2 carrots, chopped roughly

1 onion, chopped roughly

2 stalks of celery, chopped roughly

6 cloves of garlic, peeled

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. In a roasting pan, add the rough cut vegetables. Rinse the rack of pork and pat it dry with paper towels. Place the rack, fat side up, on top of the vegetables in the pan. Apply a liberal amount of olive oil to the pork, rubbing it into the meat. Sprinkle the entire rack with salt and pepper, and then coat with the Montreal Steak Seasoning (use more if you want more of coating to form a crust). Place the pan in the oven and roast for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees and continue roasting for approximately 2 hours or until the internal temperature on the outside of the rack has reached 160 degrees. This will ensure that the outside of the pork is well done while the center cuts are not quite as cooked.

Remove the rack from the oven and place it on a cutting board and tent loosely with aluminum foil. Allow the pork to rest for 10 minutes before slicing. While the rack is resting, place 2 cups of water in the roasting pan and place on the stovetop over medium-high heat. With a spoon, loosen all the baked meat scraps from the pan to help make a pan gravy. Allow to cook and reduce for 10 minutes. Strain out all the vegetable pieces.

Cut the rack along the bones, making even portions of pork and serve with the pan gravy.

It was very simple and made for a nice, elegant meal. This one might be better served for a weekend  when you have more time to cook it instead of a weeknight meal, but it is quite delicious. I served it with some wild rice and brussels sprouts and it was all very good and looked great on the plate.

Another easy meal for your arsenal! We’re going shopping so I still haven’t planned out the meals for next week yet, so we’ll have to see what comes along and is on sale for next week to make. Check back and see what I can come up with. Until next time, enjoy your evening and enjoy your meal!