Harissa-Rubbed Pork Shoulder with White Beans and Asparagus
This is one of those recipes that was SO CLOSE to being amazing and just missed the mark for me a little bit! While this thing was cooking, it smelled sooooooo good! And I love Alison Roman, she is funky and cute and hilarious and I think most of her recipes are spot on. The rub for this was fantastic, I will absolutely use it again, I think it would be good on roasted chicken too. I also left out the chard. I’m trying to use what’s on hand and not make extra trips to the store, so left it out and subbed in the asparagus as a side.
Here’s the thing though: the meat dried out. I went on the shorter end of the three hours, was using the oven thermometer so I know it was 320 degrees, and it was just too long. I had a great, evenly-proportioned piece of meat, 4 lbs, and followed the recipe to the letter. Pork loin and shoulder tends to have whiter and darker parts, and the darker part was okay, but the whiter part should have definitely been out of the oven sooner. I think cutting it down to 1 1/2 -2 hours plus the 40-45 minutes cranked up to 425 would be plenty. SO many people overcook pork and I’m mad at myself for not taking it out sooner (I thought about it and didn’t). It’s okay for pork to still be a little pink, it will stay nice and juicy. UGH, listen to your instincts!
I will say however, the beans were DELICIOUS! We gobbled those things up! I used canned Cannellini beans. They soaked up that sauce and were creamy and perfectly seasoned. YUM! I drizzled the asparagus with a little olive oil, salt, and squeezed some lemon juice over it, and threw it in the hot oven while to roast while I was getting everything else ready.
There is quite a bit of meat left, so I’m going to let it soak up some barbecue sauce and we’ll have some pulled pork sammies later in the week. I still have hope! Or at the very least, leftovers. 🙂 It’s not always perfect (not even close) but that just makes me more eager to try again! Hope you are all staying safe at home and are well!
Cheers! ~ Jen
