Oven-baked pork loin with carrot

This dish surprised even me. I had two pork chops ready to make two traditional pork schnitzels, but Ninka had a New Year’s performance at school today, so everything dragged on and in the end I only had time to take her out for a cake and pop into a shop.

She actually won a bet with me that she’d eat the whole cake (we bent the rules a little, so I also won my prize: a drawing of Paddington Bear). As part of the bet, she got to choose a magazine 🙂

She also proudly told me she’d eaten her lunch beautifully at school today. What was for lunch?

You’ll never guess… pork schnitzel. With potatoes, and her favourite tomato soup to start (the school’s is the best ;), and only the sautéed carrots were yuck. So I was left with the pork loin at home. And I launched into some serious improvisation. I’d also grabbed something quick to eat today, so I didn’t really fancy making those classic pork schnitzels. Besides, I got home late and couldn’t really be bothered.

So I prepared the dish in 5 minutes. Five minutes of preparation. The pork did spend almost another hour in the oven, but that doesn’t count… Rather unusual pork loin, because it wasn’t roasted in the usual way (the kind Ninka likes cold, thinly sliced on bread), but as baked chops.

Basically, I wanted them to have some flavour and not be too dry, so I added carrot, honey and a tablespoon of olive oil. And that combination (with garlic and mixed peppercorns as well) actually surprised me very pleasantly. They came out quite juicy, for pork loin, of course. And not as fatty or high in calories as the classic breaded version. So I can recommend them with a clear conscience.

At a glance:

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Baking time: 55 minutes

Oven temperature: 180 degrees Celsius

Serves: 2 people

How many calories: if you’re planning an intense workout, enough to survive it

Ingredients for oven-baked pork loin with a difference:

• 2 boneless pork loin chops (about 2 cm thick)
• 1 teaspoon of honey
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 clove of garlic
• ground black pepper
• whole mixed peppercorns
• salt
• a tablespoon of olive oil

Recipe for some decent grub:

I washed the pork chops and patted them dry with a paper towel. I laid them on a piece of aluminium foil (you can see it in the photo) and seasoned both sides with a little salt and ground black pepper.

I cut the carrot into fairly thin rounds and laid them on the chops. I cut the garlic clove into 6 pieces and placed them on the carrot (3 pieces on each chop). I drizzled the honey evenly over the tops of the chops.

I crushed the mixed peppercorns in my hands and sprinkled them over the chops. I drizzled olive oil over everything.

I put them in the oven, preheated to 180 degrees Celsius. I baked them for about an hour (around 55 minutes). After that, the pork chops baked with carrot are ready. They’re swimming in olive oil, but it’s worth patting the undersides dry. Then they seem quite diet-friendly 😉

I ate mine with a piece of bread roll, but they go just as well with a traditional dinner of potatoes and some raw vegetable salad. Enjoy!

PS

And if you don’t like carrot baked like this, you can get rid of it and serve the pork without it, of course 🙂