Roast Pork rubbed with sage & garlic with Potatoes, Cabbage, Carrots, & Onions

6 or more servings

I just bought a beautiful Fresh Boston Butt (Natural antibiotic free & no added hormones) Pork Shoulder Roast (bone in) for a very good price indeed-under $2/lb. It was a rainy and cold spring day and this was a perfect way to cook it for this kind of weather.  Supposedly this recipe originates from Naples, but who cares—Ketchum is a good place to cook it as well even though we are famous for lamb.  This is a rare pork recipe that if done so easily correctly is moist and tender—even though pork can easily be tough.

Ingredients:

1 3-4 lb. pork Fresh Boston Butt (and according to Mark Bittman, “in Boston, evidently they did not know which end was up, since this is the shoulder)

2 Tblsp. minced garlic

2 Tblsp. fresh minced sage leaves or 2 Tsp. dried sage

S&P to taste

3 baking potatoes, scrubbed, skin left on, cut into thirds

1/2 head of cabbage cut into 1/6’s

2 large carrots, peeled, and cut into quarters

1 large onion cut into eighths

1 nice handful of Parsley, chopped

1 Cup or a bit less of Vegetable Stock

2 Tblsp. or more of Olive Oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425.

Mix together the garlic, S&P, and sage.

Bring pork to room temp, spray or rub some olive oil over it all, and then slit in the pork on both sides with a sharp knife little 1 inch slits.. Place all but 1 tsp. full of the garlic mixture into slits, using your fingers to dig it in place the garlic mixture, and what’s left over, spread over the rest of the pork.

In a 10 inch round baking dish that has been sprayed with a non-stick olive oil spray place and mix the potatoes, cabbage, carrots, onion, the 2 tblsp. olive oil, parsley and the one left over tsp of the garlic mixture.

Nestle the roast among the vegetables in the dish.

Place the baking dish with the roast and veggies on the middle rack in the 425 degree oven and roast undisturbed for 30 minutes.

Take dish out, turn oven down to 350, and stir veggies a bit.

Add 1 Cup or a little less of vegetable stock to the dish.

Put dish back in oven and continue cooking, stirring every now and then if need be, for one hour for a 3 lb. pork butt and more for a larger one—or at least to when an instant read thermo registers 145 to 150.  Let dish rest for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

Artichokes are a nice side dish to serve with this wonderful dish.

 You DO NOT WANT TO OVER COOK!!!! this dish.  It’s best to keep testing the roast for doneness and tenderness and remember that it will keep cooking a bit when resting. Pork tends to dry out very quickly; however, if you are careful, it can be very moist and tender.