Let the turkeys go campaign

Roast pork loin with honey garlic butter sauce

We aren’t so much turkey people any more. We almost always had roast chicken and dressing for holidays until the family got so large a turkey and sometimes a ham was on the menu. One year, I made a chili lime turkey with coconut milk which was certainly a unique change to say the least! This recipe is from Cafe Delites and it was as promised: moist, flavorful, and totally delicious. The herbs and spices are mixed into a rub with olive oil, the roast is seared on all sides and then it rests while you make the sauce. There were several steps to the process, such as cover and roast for 20 minutes, baste with half of the reserved sauce, continue roasting uncovered for 15 minutes, baste again and roast for another 10-15 minutes. While the roast rests (for yet another 10-15 minutes of course), the cornstarch is added to make the sauce thicken. I hereby claim it is the best pork loin roast I have ever made and totally worth all those little extra steps!

The meal was simple, accompanied with green beans and skin-on mashed potatoes. I served Soetmelksvlei pinotage which was an excellent accompaniment.

After all, the star of the show was dessert, which was a lot more work than the roast! Enter sweet potato bread pudding, New Orleans style! The recipe is from Brigtsen’s restaurant which features “Bread Pudding du Jour” and the sweet potato version is a holiday offering featured in Eating Well.

It was as good this morning as it was last night–we all had seconds! Is your mouth watering yet? It was that good. I texted with Sis, Bro, and Cuz, my two BFFs, and the group text with R’s family and pronounced it a “not bad Thanksgiving” for being separated by miles and miles of Texas.