Moroccan Pork Loin with Dried Fruit and Lemons

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Makes 2 main dishes, 4 servings each
October 1999
RECIPE BY Sunset

Assembly Time: about 45 minutes; Cooking Time: about 50 minutes. Notes: Thaw overnight (the night before serving, place container of frozen food in the refrigerator). Serve with couscous and hot cooked green beans.

Ingredients

  • 2 lemons (3/4 lb. total)
  • 1 tablespoon ground coriander
  • 1 tablespoon ground dried turmeric
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2/3 cup honey
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped red onion (about 1/2 lb.)
  • 1 cup dried apricots
  • 1 cup dried pitted prunes
  • 2 boned center-cut pork loin roasts (1 1/4 lb. each)
  • 2 cups fat-skimmed beef broth

Nutritional Information

  • Calories 445
  • Caloriesfromfat 26%
  • Protein 33g
  • Fat 13g
  • Satfat 4.4g
  • Carbohydrate 54g
  • Fiber 3.2g
  • Sodium 407mg
  • Cholesterol 92mg

How to Make It

Step 1

Rinse lemons and trim ends. Cut lemons into 1/8-inch-thick slices and discard seeds.

Step 2

Put 1/2 the coriander, turmeric, ginger, cumin, salt, honey, onion, apricots, prunes, and lemon slices in each of 2 plastic freezer bags (1-gal. size). Squeeze bags to mix ingredients.

Step 3

Rinse pork. Trim and discard most of the fat. Add 1 pork roast and 1/2 the broth to each bag. Seal bags, turn to mix, and freeze (see Cold Facts below).

Step 4

Thaw 1 bag (see notes). Pour pork and sauce into a 9- by 13-inch pan. Turn pork fat side up.

Step 5

Bake in a 400° oven until a thermometer inserted in center of thickest part of roast reaches 155°, about 40 minutes; frequently stir sauce and baste meat.

Step 6

Transfer pork to a platter and let rest about 5 minutes. Slice meat and serve with sauce.

Step 7

Cold Facts. Packaging: freezer bags. If ingredients include liquid, set each plastic freezer bag upright in a bowl, then fill. Squeeze out all air and seal bag. For better protection of frozen foods during storage, seal each bag inside a second one. Lay bags flat in freezer until solid so they will stack.

Step 8

Note: Nutritional analysis is per serving.

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Ratings & Reviews

MsCraftypants's Review

MsCraftypants
January 06, 2010
The reason I chose this recipe is because I wanted to try something exotic and out of my comfort zone, plus the picture looked really yummy! The clincher for this recipe as my first post: it calls for you to prep two roasts at once. Then you freeze one for later. Result: I was a bit nervous with this recipe but the pork turned out so juicy I’m happy to know I have another one marinating in my freezer. I also made the suggested green beans and Medjool Pilaf to accompany the dish. The pilaf did NOT work. I’m still trying to figure out what I did wrong. Maybe I just had a bad batch of basmati rice that wouldn’t cook? Seriously: the sauce was so yummy I wanted the rice to be more than just the hard rocks they went into the pan as, but alas: no. They never plumped and I just don’t know why. As for the pork: I missed a step in the recipe but even with my screw up it was tasty! I forgot to add the beef broth which made the sauce dry out pretty quickly (from all that honey). I thought the roast was going to be a burnt mess but it was sealed with flavor and so yummy – even Joe was surprised at how good it was. A note about the ingredients: I went to my local produce market which is predominantly Middle Eastern and got most of the specialty items there. That included Medjool dates and cardamom. You can use regular dates I’m sure and the cardamom was expensive but available at Safeway. As for the basmati I used Safeway’s Eating Right brand and it was a big flop. I cooked the rice 45 minutes longer and even added more water hoping for it to soften but to no avail. I’m going to try it again with another brand of basmati (because the sauce was that delicious!) and see how it turns out with my second roast.