Roast Pork Loin with Oranges Fennel and Spices

This is another of those Saturday evening specials. You know the ones I'm so fond of. Put it in the oven, when it's ready watch the James Bond movie while eating and drinking.  It may be my age catching up with me but as far as I'm concerned this is a perfect evening. The pork roast was very lean so I rubbed a fairly substantial amount of butter all over it, then rolled it in chopped herbs, spices and orange zest - surrounded it with veggies and roasted it for an hour, it's as simple as that.

Roast Pork Loin with Oranges, Fennel and Spices.

1, 2 lb pork loin

2-3 tablespoons of unsalted butter (room temperature)

2 fennel bulbs

4 carrots (or in this case a couple of handfuls of baby carrots)

2 onions

Fresh parsley or rosemary

salt and pepper

1 teaspoon of cumin and cardamon

Zest of an orange

1 orange, quartered

Olive oil

Heat the oven to 375 F

If you can remember take the pork out of the fridge about an hour before cooking and let it come to room temperature.  The same applies to the butter.

When you're ready to cook, rub the butter all over the pork.  Chop the herbs very finely.  Mix with the salt, pepper, cumin, cardamon and orange zest.

Roll the buttered pork loin in the herb mixture.  Place in a baking pan and scatter the vegetables and orange wedges around the meat. Pour a little olive oil over the veggies and sprinkle with salt, pepper and cumin.

Place the baking pan in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.  Take the pan out, toss the veggies around and baste the meat.  Put back into the oven for a further 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven, place the meat on a warm platter, cover with aluminum foil to rest for at least 10 minutes.  If needed place the veggies back into the oven to crisp up.

Slice and serve with plenty of vegetables and juices.

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