Garlic Lime Roasted Pork Crown in Cachaça

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Here is to making it traditionally unconventional this holiday season!

Try this perfectly caramelized rostered crown of pork instead of ham this holiday season!

Roasted lime garlic crown of pork basted with cachaça, served with creamy brown butter sage whipped sweet potatoes and toasted almond green beans with crispy pancetta

Roasted lime garlic crown of pork

Ingredients

  • 1 Swift Crown of Pork
  • 5 cloves of garlic, smashed
  • Juice of 2 limes
  • Coarse sea salt (seasoned Brazilian salt)
  • Rainbow (black) pepper
  • 1.5 cup of cachaça (Brazilian rum)
The marinade.
The basting in cachaça.

For the pork crown:

  1. Dry pork rack with paper towels.
  2. Apply rainbow pepper over pork. Rub smashed garlic all over the pork.
  3. Squeeze two limes and massage the juice over the pork, ensuring the garlic is still well divided over pork.
  4. Marinate for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator – overnight is best.
  5. Preheat oven to 325°F. Drizzle olive oil over pork and add salt all over rack. Place rack of pork in oven, leaving meat thermometer in it (if you have one). Internal temperature will need to reach 145°F which, depending on the size, may take from 90 minutes to 3 hours.
  6. Every 30 minutes, baste cachaça over the rack, turning the rack each time (not flipping, simply shifting positions in the oven).
  7. Increase temperature to 375°F for the last 15-20 minutes to achieve caramelization. Doing this at the end will prevent the meat from drying out.
  8. Once internal temperature reaches 145°F, remove from oven and let rest for at least 20 minutes.
The finished product.
Moist and delicious.
Make. It.
Step up your sweet potato mash game.

Creamy brown butter sage whipped sweet potato

  • 3-4 sweet potatoes
  • 1-2 tbsp butter
  • 1-2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1-2 tbsp creme fraiche
  • 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • Sprinkle of salt and pepper
  • 5-6 sage leaves
  1. Boil sweet potatoes until tender and mash them until smooth.
  2. Mix in milk, heavy whipping cream and butter, and vigorously whip with potato masher. Season with a sprinkle of salt and pepper and blend in creme fraiche.
  3. Top it with another tbsp of butter, and sprinkle brown sugar and fried sage leaves over the top. (Sage leaves were fried in pancetta fat when making greenbeans.)
Green beans with a crunch.

Almond pancetta green beans

  • 1 lb green beans
  • 1 oz pancetta
  • 1/2 cup shaved almonds
  1. Boil green beans until tender and drain. Fry up pancetta until crispy.
  2. Fry up sage (to top whipped sweet potato dish) in the pancetta fat and then remove; set aside on a paper towel.
  3. Add beans to pan and season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss with pancetta and almonds – that is it!

It’s all about the texture with this one!

The perfect meal. Seriously. Dare to try something different!

Enjoy my friends!

Happy holidays!

Xo, Ana