Mustard Crusted Pork Roast with Savory Winter Root Vegetables

Mustard Crusted Pork Roast

with Savory Winter Root Vegetables

Early Saturday morning, I got out of bed and told myself, "If you go to the store now, you won't have to do anything else this entire three day weekend."  I poured a cup of coffee, slipped on my tennis shoes and vest, put my hair in a pony tail and out the door I went into the cool, clear morning to grocery shop.  The kids stayed home with my husband.

Going without the kids somehow is so much easier.  For one,  I don't have to carry my son literally all over the store because he vehemently refuses to ride in the cart, or walk, which is exhausting.  I know there is a toddler seat in every cart, always absent of my son's behind, but now it's a holder for the vegetables and fruit Im purchasing. And two, my daughter is always picking up things I would never buy and putting them in the cart only to be taken back out and put back on the shelf when she's not looking.  Isn't that what all parents do, carry one around with muscles that don't exist and somehow with a free hand, put back the mish mash of collectibles accumulated along your weary way by the other one while trying to remember your mental grocery list?  And finally, when you get to the check out, one of them is squeezing all the candy bars and putting them back on the shelf and the other one is begging you for your secret debit card password because THEY want to DO IT!  It's truly the gameshow equivalent, if not the gameshow itself.  Somewhere, somehow, there's got to be fabulous cash and prizes for making it through the checkout.  Well, today was different.  Today was the day that I was free from the bonds of motherly bliss of being a junglejim with a toddler necklace and using the cart like a crutch to just get one more last minute item before staggering to that perfect place in line only to get behind the junk food guy with the short attention span and finding out it's the checkers second day and they are going to have trouble with your coupons.  Today is the day I found my mind and bought a pork roast.

What a lovely idea.  When you are this happy to buy a pork roast, you either love food or you need to have more excitement in your life.  This wasn't just any pork roast.  It came without seasonings or injected color.  There were no black specks in the wrapper that were, at one time, herbs.  There was no advertisement about an inclusive "Flav-O-Pac." It was just a plain fresh, innocent pork roast with no adulteration....yet.  He was a beauty and he was cheap!  This date was looking better and better.  The options were endless.  It made me so happy.  I hope you are this happy when you buy your pork roast.  You should be.  I'm about to share with you one of the best pork roast recipes of ALL TIME.  Here we go.

Mustard Crusted Pork Roast with Savory Winter Root Vegetables

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients
1 2 or 3 pound pork roast, unadulterated
1/4 C. grainy dijon mustard
1/4 C. dijon mustard
1/2 C. soy sauce
1 T. black pepper, divided
2 C. Panko or bread crumbs
Olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
2 carrots, cut into sections
2 parsnips, cut into sections
10 baby red potatoes or 2 large cut into chunks
1 red onion, cut into eighths
1 t. dried thyme
1 t. salt
1 C. chicken broth
1 C. white wine

Directions

Take your beautiful pork roast out of the packaging.  Wash and pat dry (dry!).  Combine mustards, soy sauce, garlic and 1 t. pepper in small bowl and whisk to combined.  Slather mixture on pork roast until thoroughly coated.  Roll pork roast in panko or bread crumbs.  Set aside.

Slice all  your vegetables and put them in the bottom of a dutch oven pan and cover them with a few swirls of olive oil, thyme, salt and the remaining pepper.  Using your hands, toss together to thoroughly coat.

Place the breaded pork roast on top of vegetables in your dutch oven and lightly swirl with olive oil over the top.

Place roast in the oven and cook for about two hours or until your roast registers 140 to 150 degrees.  Take pot out of the oven and carefully removing the roast, set it on a cutting board to rest.  Turn the oven up to 425 degrees and put the vegetables back in for about 15 minutes.  Carefully remove vegetables from pot into serving dish.  There should be some tasty morsels in the bottom of your pot.  Place pot on stovetop and turn up the heat to medium high.  Pour in your chicken broth and wine.  Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer scraping sides and bottom to incorporate all the flavors and reduce to about 3/4 cup.  Add pepper as desired.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Plate your roast with your vegetables and drizzle sauce over the top.  This roast is so simple and is a great idea if you are serving it to a group of people.  But even if you are just making it for you and your sweet one, they will be eating right out of your hand!  They will love your roast as much as you do!

Enjoy!