Happy Friday! As we are heading into Friday and the weekend, I thought why not share sweet and savory recipes that include orange as the main ingredient.

Many people asked me for some Maniatiko style recipes and I hear you! So, I finally made our family roast recipe, and WOW is what I have to say. The sweetness from the oranges, the rosemary, and sea salt flavors along with the chicken stock was such a beautiful harmony of flavors. I hope you share this dish with your family and think of us from Mani (a picturesque) village in Peloponnesos Greece.

Let’s get to this recipe!

Maniatiko Pork Roast Recipe

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless pork chops
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil (divided)
• 1 can of chicken stock
• 4 large carrots, peeled cut in 3-inch slices
• 1 white onion, quartered
• 7 large golden potatoes, quartered
• 1/2 cup of freshly squeezed oranges ( I used cara cara) Roughly 4 oranges
• 1/4 cup of water
• A handful of fresh rosemary sprigs
• 2 lemons juiced
• Sea salt (I used Limani Sea Salt) & Black pepper to taste
• 2 cloves of minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon of powdered cumin
• 2 teaspoons of honey (reserve for baking)
• You can use cornstarch to thicken the sauce to make gravy. That is up to you. We usually dip our bread in the juice and it is amazing!

Method:

1. Prepare the pork chops. First off I used boneless pork chops. I prepare them by taking the meat grinder and pounding them on each side. I don’t pound them too much, just a bit so they become tender while cooking. To properly pound the meat, place meat between plastic wrap. Pound the chops to tenderize. Set aside on a plate.
2. Prepare the onion, carrots, and potatoes. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl whisk together the olive oil, chicken stock, lemon juice, orange juice, water, garlic, cumin salt, and pepper. Place pork chops inside the pan, and then add the carrots, potatoes, and onions. Then add the rosemary sprigs over the pork. Make sure the liquid is covering the potatoes & carrots. Drizzle a little bit of olive oil over the top of the pork chops.
4. Place the baking dish in the middle rack and cook at 375 for about 1 hour. If you find that the carrots or potatoes are getting too much color, place foil over the top. The point of this dish is to cook slow and steady so all the flavors come together. Once the pork has been cooking for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, place the oven temperature to broil. Drizzle honey over the pork chops.
5. Broil for a few minutes until the pork has a nice golden brown color.
6. At this point, you can reserve the juice and make a thicker sauce by adding a few teaspoons of cornstarch to 1/4 cup of juice. Whisk to combine and then add that to the leftover juice. Once thickened, serve the sauce over the pork chops and vegetables.

Tips:

• Carrots and potatoes add a really lovely taste to this dish but feel free to use sweet potatoes or any vegetables of your choice.
• Cook the pork chops to an internal temperature of 160 degrees. Remember that your pork chops will still cook slightly when you remove them from the oven.
• I have tried cooking pork chops slow and steady, high heat and then slow, and pan-seared and oven. This is the best technique in my opinion for a roast-like style dish.
• If your pork chops are too thick, cut them in half.

Kali Orexi!

See you tomorrow for another orange recipe.