Pork with Pimenton, Garlic, and Olive Oil, and Couscous with Carrots, Raisins, and Pine Nuts

Our one big meal of the week involved two new recipes, one from the New York Times and one from Cook’s Illustrated. Each had a very different flavor profile, but they complemented each other really well and we were glad we made this pairing.

I’ll start with the pork. Kevin heard about The Minimalist column from the New York Times from a friend. He’s seen many recipes that he wants to try, and this is one of them. There was one problem, though: the recipe calls for rack of lamb. We live in north central Maine. They don’t have rack of lamb in the grocery store here. We were majorly bummed when we couldn’t find it and dejectedly purchased a boneless pork roast instead.

The topping for the meat is a twist on migas, a Spanish dish. We put semi-stale rye bread (that Kevin baked a few days ago), smoked Spanish paprika (or pimentón), olive oil, and garlic into a food processor and blended it together to make bread crumbs. The mixture was placed on the top of the pork roast, which had been dredged in seasoned flour on all its other sides to keep in the juices, and the roast went into the oven. We set the crust by roasting at 500 degrees for about six minutes (before the bread crumbs get too dark), then we cooked the meat by turning the oven down to 250 and letting the meat sit for an hour and a half or until its internal temperature is 155°F.

While the roast was in the oven, we made the couscous. I have never had couscous before, but I have been really anxious to try it. We found this recipe in Cook’s Illustrated. The article preceding the recipe in Cook’s Illustrated was, as always, incredibly interesting, and I felt really confident I could pull this recipe off after reading about it. The couscous came together really quickly. First, we toasted the pine nuts.

Then, the carrots and cinnamon were briefly sauteed in butter.

The couscous and raisins were added and cooked until the grains began to brown. The pan was removed from the heat and a 50:50 mix of water and chicken broth was added. Seven minutes later, we stirred in the pine nuts and some orange juice, and the couscous was finished.

There was a lot of work put into this meal, but the flavors were so wonderful that it was worth it. The smokiness of the migas topping went really well with the sweetness of the couscous. If we make this again, we’re going to look really hard for rack of lamb. How delicious would that be?

Migas Bread Crumb Topping for Pork Roast
adapted from the Minimalist, New York Times

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves
1 T. smoked paprika (Pimenton)
1 medium slice rye bread
Salt and pepper to taste

Place all ingredients into a food processor. Blend until mixture form bread crumbs. For more information, check out the link for the original recipe.

Couscous with Carrots, Raisins, and Pine Nuts
adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

3 T. unsalted butter
2 medium carrots, grated
1/2 t. ground cinnamon
2 cups couscous
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 1/4 cup water
1 1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth
1 t. salt
3/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1 T. orange juice

Heat butter in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. When melted, add carrots and cinnamon, cook for 2 minutes until softened. Add couscous and raisins, cook 5 minutes or until couscous begins to brown. Add water, broth, and salt, remove from heat and let sit, covered, for 7 minutes. Uncover and stir in pine nuts and orange juice before serving.