Cuban Pork Roast

I have trouble cooking pork roast. There are just too many flavours that go well with pork: lemon & rosemary, garlic, pesto, apples & pears, cinnamon.... the combinations are endless. Today I was going to use my Epicure Tuscan Rub (which is along the lines of lemon & rosemary), but then I found some avocados in the fridge and I wanted to use them somehow. So I went to my old standard: Cuban Seasoning & lime juice. I drizzled the pork roast with olive oil, mixed together the spices and lime juice and rubbed it all over the roast. Then I set the roast on a rack in my roasting pan (okay, I lie, I made a rack out of twisted tinfoil) and put it in the oven.

I never really know how to cook meat properly, so I always rely on recipe websites and meat thermometers. I found a link that suggested cooking a pork roast at 450 F for 10 minutes, and then reducing the heat to 250 F for 50-80 minutes. Many of you are probably thinking, "But that's not long enough to cook a pork roast!" And that's exactly what I should have been thinking. However, I gave it a shot, stuck my meat thermometer in, and watched as the needle moved ever-so-slightly and then stayed put. I ended up bumping up the temperature to 325 F, and cooking it for another hour! I'm still not entirely sure that it was cooked, but I'm also notorious for overcooking meat, so I thought I'd take it out and let it rest for a while in tinfoil while I cooked up the rest of the meal.

I made sweet potato fries (cut up a sweet potato, drizzle with olive oil, bake at 400 or 450 F for 20 minutes), and I diced up an avocado and a mango to serve with the pork. I must say, it was well worth the wait!