Greek Seasoned Pork & Fennel Gratin

Today was another nice day to be outdoors, sunny & I think it was about 65. I had found a recipe for spicy candied pecans, on saveur.com, I wanted to try on the smoker. I mixed up the spices & sugar, melted the butter in a skillet, added the pecans & spices, and mixed well. On the smoker, in my Weber pan, at 180 deg for 20 min then went to 225 for another 20 min. I stirred them every 10 min. When they cooled I tasted & tasted again & again. I called that my breakfast!!

Went through my carryout to replenish my beer & they had brisket sandwiches done on a Traeger Texan so that was my lunch. I hope it gets to be a regular on the menu, it was great!

I had a 3 lb. bone in Pork Loin Sirloin roast I wanted to do along with some fennel gratin. The fennel gratin recipe also came from saveur.com. I remembered someone on pelletheads forum had said Greek seasoning was good on pork. I found a Greek Seasoning Mix recipe at food.com that looked good to me, & would go well with the fennel gratin. Two hours before cook time I mixed 2 Tbs. olive oil & 3 tsp. lemon juice and rubbed on the roast. I mixed up the Greek seasoning & coated the pork roast well; covered with saran wrap & back in the fridge.

I got the roast on at 3:30, along with two potatoes, smoke mode about 185 deg average for ½ hour. I prepared the two fennel bulbs, garlic, one onion cut in wedges. Arranged in a 9 inch square pan, added 2 cups chicken broth & salt & pepper. Placed on the smoker at 4:00 & went to 225 deg for another 1/2 hour. At 4:30 I inserted the temp probe & went to 325 deg. After twenty min. it looked to me like the roast was going up in temp too fast for the 6:00 time I told my wife we would eat, she went to a movie with friends. I dropped the temp back to 300 deg for the rest of the cook.

My wife got home & about 6:40 the roast was at 165 deg IT. I pulled & tented it with foil. Added a Tbs. of heavy cream to each half of fennel bulb, a little fresh grated nutmeg, & parmesan cheese, under the broiler until cheese was melted & browning some. I served all with some good crusty bread. The fennel could have been a little more done but tasted great. My wife commented how good the pork was, that seasoning is a winner! The plating lacks color so if serving guests some parsley or green garnish would look good.

Link to Pecan Recipe

Link to Fennel Gratin Recipe

Link to Greek Seasoning Recipe


Spicy Pecans

Pork Seasoned

On the Smoker & ready

Fennel just off the Smoker

My Plate

Smokin Don