Cranberry Sauced Pork Loin

Kroger had pork loins on sale recently for $1.99/lb, a fantastic deal given that they're usually nearly $4/lb.

We'd intended for Russ to grill it tonight, but the rain inspired him to ask me to find some other way to cook it. i found this delicious recipe on Cooks.com; the original is a little light on details, so i'm expanding it below to include how we actually made it.

The original recipe calls for 1 can of whole-berry cranberry sauce; i made cranberry sauce from scratch, which is very much worth the extra effort, as it turns out.

Cranberry Sauced Pork Loin

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

12 oz bag of cranberries, fresh or frozen

2-4# boneless pork loin roast

Salt

Pepper

1/2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp onion, minced

3/4 c orange juice

1/4 tspn cinnamon

1/8 tspn nutmeg

1. Bring water & sugar to a boil.
2. Rinse & drain cranberries; add to sugar water. Return mixture to a boil; reduce heat & simmer gently 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Transfer to a bowl & allow to cool at room temperature.
4. Season pork with salt & pepper to taste & place on a rack in roasting pan. Cook at 350F 'til internal temperature is 155 - about 20 mins/lb. Remove & let rest, covered loosely with foil.
5. Sweat onion in butter in small saucepan just 'til edges are starting to turn golden.
6. Add orange juice & return to boil; cook for 2 minutes.
7. Add 1/2 of the cranberry sauce (or 1 entire can), cinnamon & nutmeg. Boil gently, stirring frequently, until sauce starts to thicken. If desired, use a potato masher to break up some of the cranberries (this helps thicken the sauce).
8. Slice desired amount of pork. Spread some sauce in the bottom of a baking pan, arrange the pork slices & cover with remaining sauce.
9. Bake in oven at 350F 25-30 minutes, until sauce is bubbly & starting to glaze on pork.
10. Serve with remaining cranberry sauce.