The first time I left the house during the historic snow, I had to take Patrick to soccer practice at an indoor facility. There were huge, huge mountains of snow everywhere. It was a surreal driving experience. But I did it! And since I was out, I went to the grocery store and stocked up on milk before the next round. There were 10 pound pork shoulder roasts on sale for 99 cents a pound. Score!
Then, I gave in to a deep, burning desire to own a Dutch oven at last. I told myself that if I could actually get to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, park the car, and make it to the store (assuming the store was even open), I'd buy the pot.
And buy it I did*.
We made it home safely and I did what everybody does when they have a hunk of meat and a huge pot. I logged on to Facebook and asked what to do with them. Then it snowed again.
When I read over the Facebook responses, two recipes sounded similar enough that I thought I could combine them and make up for whatever ingredients I lacked in each one. Remember, we were now in the throes of Blizzard 2 and there was no quick running to the store.
I sliced two sweet onions and two oranges (with peels) and put them in the bottom of the Dutch oven. Then I scored the fat side of the pork and rubbed the whole thing with salt, pepper, six cloves chopped garlic, and a generous tablespoon of dried rosemary. I covered the pot and put it in the refrigerator overnight.
In the morning, I combined 2 cups orange juice, 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard, and 1/2 cup molasses and poured it over the roast. I cooked it, fat side up, at 275 degrees for about 7 hours, until it reached an internal temperature of 155 degrees and the meat fell apart when pierced with a fork.
The house smelled amazing!
About 5 hours into the cooking time I put a pan of quartered red potatoes and baby carrots in to bake alongside the roast. I tossed them in olive oil, salt, pepper, and rosemary before baking. They weren't finished when the roast was, but I turned up the heat to 400 and let them cook while slicing the roast and making gravy.
When the roast came out of the oven, I let it sit for 15 minutes. Then, I pulled most of the fat off and sliced the meat. I separated the fat from the pan juices and used the juice to make an amazing gravy. I put the meat in a large pasta bowl. When all that was finished, I put the potatoes and carrots around the meat and poured gravy over all.
Delish.
*Mine is not a le Creuset Dutch oven. It is a more affordable Fontignac brand. Remember that the first blizzard was Super Bowl weekend. Poor Nicholas was utterly devastated when Peyton Manning lost to the Saints. When I brought home the Dutch oven, my poor children (who had heard me go on and on about the merits of such an oven and then research them for months and years) gathered 'round when I took it out of the box. I lifted the lid and there, on the underside, was a huge embossed Fleur de Lis. :-) Poor Nicholas burst into tears, "You just had to buy a New Orleans Saints pot, didn't you! You're a traitor. Didn't they even have Colts pots; you'd think those would have been half price!"
