Cinnamon Pear Pork Loin

From what I understand, the city of Houston doesn't really have much in terms of seasons. There's summer, and then there's... not-summer. I've lived in the northeast all my life, and my favorite season has always been fall. I love the turning of the leaves, I love the crisp temperature, and I love good fall food. Even though Houston may be missing out on some of the external signs of fall, I've decided that at the very least I should bring fall into my apartment. I started out with this simple pork recipe. I have a few more good ones coming over the next few days; I just haven't typed them up yet.

Ingredients:

  - 1 can pears

  - 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

  - 1/2 tsp cinnamon

  - 1 tsp salt

  - 1/2 cup water

  - 2-3 lb pork loin

Instructions:

1. Clean the fat and silverskin off the pork loin and set it aside.
2. Combine the liquid from the canned pears and all other ingredients in a plastic bag and mix until everything has blended together. Put the pears themselves into the refrigerator
3. Toss the pork in, and marinade in the refrigerator for at least four hours. Shoot for overnight if you can.
4. Roast at 350° for one hour. A half hour in, throw the pears on top of the pork.
5. Set aside for five minutes, then serve.

Okay, using canned pears might be cheating, but it's a great way to get a lot of awesome flavor into the marinade. It's also pretty cheap, which is always nice. The important thing is that the meat comes out absolutely delicious.

The salt and vinegar help to tenderize the meat while letting the pear and cinnamon penetrate deeply. The best way to play with this recipe would be by changing the vinegar around. Balsamic would give it a very different but very nice taste. The right herbs could work wonders as well. I personally love rosemary with pork. Try things! Be bold!

I served this with butter and brown-sugar roasted acorn squash and some sauteed kale. Squash might be the very best thing about fall.

Final Verdict:

Taste: 4.5/5

Ease: 5/5

Health: 3.5/5 (It is pork, after all)