Beans and Toast

Growing up half Canadian and half Italian lent itself well to exposing turkey for the sham that it is.  Half of the holidays were spent eating the bird with all the variety of being served ‘cold’ or ‘warm’, while the rest of the holidays were spent eating things that generally had flavour.  It is only fair that I went on to marry an English girl who simply demands that thanksgiving revolve around a bird too lazy to fly.  A bird so lazy it makes you sleep after you eat it.  A bird so lazy you can use it’s name to express discontent with other people, you turkeys!  My point is that it barely seems fair.  So for several years I’ve used all manner of techniques to attempt to make this bird as great as people make it out to be.  This year, I think I have.
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I went to a Croatian-style pig roast this past summer and it was real good. Now that the cold weather’s here – I wanted that taste again…real bad. How could I achieve this without a pig? I pondered and pondered until I saw a real cheap cut of meat at the grocery store and thus came up with a solution: Pig Roast Style Roasted Loin of Pork served with mashed taters and Red Cale with apples and walnuts…..yum.

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I’ve been watching a lot of Mad Men lately and really had a hankering for some of Betty Draper’s pork roast. I’ve been using this technique for roasts lately. Gets them all crusty and well seasoned without burning the herbs or garlic. Every time someone burns garlic on a pork roast a pig angel loses it’s wings. Then the human angels get bacon, which they like, but it’s no good for you and your family.

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Summertime roasts are generally a stupid idea. Oven temperatures heat up your house, which will make you fussy and can lead to arguments with your wife. I will tell you however, cows are being killed all year round, and if you can throw a rib eye on the bbq, why not 4 rib eyes still connected to each other?
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