Pepper-Crusted Pork Loin

Pepper-Crusted Pork
Serves 6

3 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper
2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 (3-pound) boneless center-cut pork loin

1. Combine sugar, pepper, rosemary, and salt and rub all over pork. Let roast stand at room temperature for 1 hour or refrigerate for up to 24 hours.

2. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Arrange pork on V-rack set in roasting pan. Roast for 15 minutes, then lower oven temperature to 375 degrees and cook until meat registers 140 degrees, about 50 minutes longer. Transfer pork to cutting board and tent with foil. Let rest 20 minutes. Slice pork and serve.

*I would probably cut the pepper to 1-1 1/2 Tbls. I also roasted the pork loin on a flat rack over a casserole dish. I poured chicken broth in the casserole dish which keeps the pork extremely moist and make a great sauce to use on the pork.

Belgian Waffles

Belgian Waffles
Recipe courtesy Wayne Harley Brachman, Retro Desserts, Harper Collins Publishers, 2000

2 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
Nonstick vegetable spray for coating waffle iron

Preheat a waffle iron. In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and add the buttermilk, milk, eggs, and melted butter. Mix together just until combined (DON'T OVERMIX THE BATTER!). The batter should look slightly lumpy.
Spray the waffle iron with the nonstick vegetable spray. Pour 1/2 cup of the batter or the amount recommended by the waffle-iron maker onto the waffle iron; bake as directed by the manufacturer.

*Substitutions -
1 cup cake flour - 1 cup all-purpose flour minus 2 tablespoons (I would use cake flour, I thought they tasted better)
1 cup buttermilk - 1 Tbls lemon juice and add regular milk to make 1 cup