Five-Spiced Roast Pork with Root Vegetables

Here is one of the easiest pork roasts I know, coupled with some slightly-sweet flavoured roast vegetables. The sweetness comes from the root vegetables themselves and the very slight spiciness from the added ginger and Chinese 5 spice powder.

For best results cut all your vegetables into similar sizes so they cook evenly. If you don’t like chilli, you can replace it with garlic or leave out altogether.

 

 

 

FIVE-SPICED PORK WITH ROOT VEGETABLES

Ingredients

Metric/US

2 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder

sea salt crystals

1 kg/21/4 lb boneless pork loin roast

Frylight or other low-fat cooking spray

1 tsp grated fresh root ginger

1/2-1 tsp chilli flakes

2 large floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

3 medium parsnips, peeled and quartered

freshly ground black pepper

apple sauce, to serve

Method

1.  Preheat the oven to 200 C/400 F/gas mark 6. Rub the Chinese 5 spice powder and a generous quantity of salt over the pork loin, making sure it gets into the cuts in the rind. Place on a rack over a roasting pan and spray liberally with Frylight or other low-fat coooking spray. Roast in the oven for 1 hour.

2.  Meanwhile, mix the ginger with the chilli, potatoes, carrots, parsnips and pepper to taste.

3.  Pour off any fat or juices from the pork into another large roasting pan. Add the vegetable mixture and spritz again liberally with Frylight then turn the vegetables in the mixture to coat evenly. Add to the oven on the shelf above the pork. Roast for a further 40 minutes, or until the pork is cooked.

4.  Remove the pork from the oven, cover with foil and leave to rest in a warm place for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, increase the oven temperature to 220 C/425 F/gas mark 7 and continue to roast the vegetables for 15 minutes until golden brown and tender.

5.  Slice the pork to serve alongside the roast vegetables with cold apple sauce.

SERVES 6

WLS PORTION: 1/2

Calories per portion:  310

Protein:  38.2g

Carbohydrate: 26.7g

Fat:  4.9g

 

Image courtesy of Waitrose, where more than 5,000 recipes can be viewed at www.waitrose.com