Grilled Pork Roast: An Impressive but Easy Dinner Party

Roasting a small, pre-marinated pork roast on the grill makes a delicious meal with surprisingly little effort. Add seasonal veggies and serve with salad for a simple dinner party.

Choosing a Roast:

A good roast should be reddish pink. Avoid roasts with a brown or greenish tinge. Pork roast can be bought fresh or frozen, but be sure your roast is defrosted before you start grilling.

Marinade:

If you want to have a quick preparation time, it is simplest to use a pre-marinated pork roast. If you cannot find one or you would rather do it yourself, however, a simple marinade is fairly easy.

If you want to have a quick preparation time, it is simplest to use a pre-marinated pork roast. If you cannot find one or you would rather do it yourself, however, a simple marinade is fairly easy.

You will need:

• brine (water and salt)
• 2-3 cups white wine
• splash of vinegar
• 5-8 garlic cloves, crushed
• ground red pepper
• black pepper
• rosemary
• thyme
• oregano

Put your roast in a bowl or pan deep enough to submerge your roast. Combine brine with white wine, enough to cover your roast. Add a splash of vinegar, and crushed garlic cloves. Sprinkle in black pepper, rosemary, thyme, and oregano. Stir and let sit for at least an hour.

Preparing the Grill:

First, start your fire. To get a good smoky flavor, a wood fire is best, but to get it going quickly you can start with charcoal and add wood when the charcoal is burning well. The grill should be closed, and grill temperature should be maintained at about 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius) for the entire cooking process. If your grill does not have a built in thermometer in the lid, put an oven thermometer inside right by the opening and check it occasionally. You will probably need to add fresh wood or charcoal and adjust the vents to keep the temperature right.

Food Preparation:

Meanwhile, you can prepare the food. Cut up vegetables to grill with the roast. Seasonal root vegetables go very well with a roast, complementing its flavors and taking the same amount of time to cook. There are several possibilities for what to use.

Possible vegetables:

• small new potatoes or red potatoes (or larger potatoes cut into chunks)
• carrots
• parsnips
• celery
• garlic cloves
• onions, quartered
• pearl onions, whole
• sweet potato (cut into chunks)
• you could even use apples, quartered, for a sweet addition

Put the roast in a cast iron (or other fireproof) pan and arrange your vegetables around it. Brush the vegetables lightly with oil and season with salt and pepper. Add some stock to the bottom of the roasting pan.

Grilling:

Remember that the grill temperature should be maintained at about 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius) for the entire cooking process. As the roast cooks, add stock or water to the roasting pan to keep it moist, but avoid opening the grill so many times that the temperature drops too much. The roast will need to cook for 20 minutes per pound, and is done when an instant-read meat thermometer registers 160 degrees Fahrenheit (70 degrees Celsius) in the center of the roast.

Serve:

Cut the roast into slices. Serve with the roasted vegetables (sprinkled with chopped parsley) and a salad. Enjoy!