Joey's Easy Balsamic Pork Roast

  Many many years ago, my family (actually, I think it was my sister Cathy), discovered that if you mix up a packet of Good Seasons Italian Dressing mix as directed, but use BALSAMIC vinegar instead of regular distilled white vinegar, the results are SO much better. So that's sort of been a long time favorite. You just measure out the amounts like it says on the packet, or you could even buy the glass carafe that goes with it, with V,  W, and O lines on the glass to show you where to fill up your levels of vinegar, water, and oil. Perfect. Fabulous. Love it. (btw, I usually don't mention specific brands, but this was just what we always used, so that's that. anyway...)
  Recently, I was generously gifted a boneless pork roast (thanx Sherine!) and my first thought was "I wonder how it would go if I marinated it in our favorite balsamic dressing?" So I mixed up a batch, but as I was mixing it, I decided that I didn't need quite so much oil. So I cut it back a little, and did equal parts oil and vinegar. Everything else stayed the same, and I poured it over my now defrosted pork with a little salt and pepper over the top. (side note, I don't even think I marinated it for very long before I popped it into the oven, but you could prep it up to this point in advance and then let it marinate for as long as you like!) The result was the most DELICIOUS pork roast! It came out so tender and the resulting sauce was so perfect, I just couldn't stop eating it.
So there you have it. Easy to prep, easy to cook, even easier to love. Balsamic dressing over pork. Who knew? You should give this one a try.




1 boneless pork loin, about 3-4 lbs
1 packet Good Seasons Italian Dressing mix
1/4 cup good quality balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 tbs water
salt and pepper

Heat oven to 350ºF.
Place roast in a baking dish or roasting pan.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the next 4 ingredients until well blended. You could also add all dressing ingredients to a mason jar with a tight fitting lid and shake to blend well.
Pour over roast and turn to coat all sides. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Cover with foil and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or as long as you like. Place pan in the oven, uncovered, and roast for about an hour, approximately 20-25 minutes per pound. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 145ºF.  Remove from oven and loosely tent with foil. Allow to rest for a good 15 minutes before carving. Serve with pan juices.

Tips:

To stretch the pan juices a little bit further as a sauce... after removing the roast from the pan, add a few more glugs of balsamic vinegar. Whisk to loosen any browned bits from the bottom of the pan... then add 1 or 2 small knobs of butter, and whisk until they melt into the sauce. HEAVEN.

In this case, you really want to get a good quality balsamic vinegar. You don't have to go crazy with the super expensive ones like the ones that are as thick as maple syrup, but you definitely want one that's sweet and syrupy. My favorite one, believe it or not, is from BJ's Wholesale Club, which is a local warehouse club chain. You can buy their balsamic vinegar online if you want to try it!
Want to try it with roast beef instead of pork? Go for it!