Roast pork loin with Ratatouille and Garlic bread

we had some friends over for dinner last night and I had planned to make a ratatouille with pork filet.

this last thursday, we finally discovered this great greenmarket not so far from our house (http://www.grownyc.org/greenmarket/manhattan/175th-street) and stocked up on all the fresh veggies that I needed.

everything was $1 a pound, besides the tomatoes at $2 a pound. being used to WF or TJ prices, this was quite a bargain and everything looked so tasty and fresh. I also got a big bag of fresh spinach bunches, which I mixed into the scrambled eggs in the morning. what a different taste from the packaged one, I totally forgot how much better spinach can taste, lol.

but to get back to the subject. I had planned to get a pork filet and roast it in the oven. I kind of planned out the day badly, so I didn’t have the time to go downtown and get the meat there and had to go to our supermarket close by. for those of you living in NYC, I had to leave the house at the exact time when this downpour came down yesterday, but at least it was warm and I would never have my guest go home hungry. they did not have pork filet but two great pieces of pork loin. I rubbed them with salt, paprika and garlic powder, seared them shortly on both sides and transferred them into a glass baking dish. for some additional taste, I added some carrot sliced (the carrots we got at the greenmarket as well, sooo good), a chopped onion and some garlic cloves with the skin.

I had the oven preheated to 400 degrees and roasted the meat, fatty side up, for about 45min. I put it under the broiler for a few minutes right before serving it.

for the ratatouille, I fired the onions in olive oil, letting them brown quite well. next I added the eggplant just because I like to have that cooked long enough to be all mushy. to get the nice layer of flavor off the bottom of the pot, I poured in some water, but just about half a cup. next I crushed about 5 small garlic cloves, chopped them up, cut the zucchini slices in small quarters as well as chunks of the orange tomatoes of the same size. to enhance the flavor, a glass of red wine is always a good addition, merlot was the one of choice last night. to round it up, I added about a tablespoon of tomato paste and seasoned it with some salt, cayenne and about a teaspoon each of dried rosemary and thyme which I ground in a mortar before.

for the starch, I had a loaf of italian bread which I smeared with garlic butter (4 tablespoons of butter, out of the fridge for a bit, preferably salted butter, 3 minced garlic gloves) and roasted it in the oven for a bit.

the leftovers of the ratatouille I will have with some pasta or roasted potatoes.

 

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