Random Recipe Monday - Loin of Pork with Green Peppercorn sauce

This story has a happy ending. Even though it doesn't sound like it, it does - at least I think so. Saturday, we had company coming over; a first on two fronts. It was going to be the first dinner party in the new house and the first time meeting someone as well. Names are reserved to protect the innocent, but suffice to say that it was a big deal.

Ok, so rewind to Friday when I made the homemade applesauce and went shopping for the dinner. A Roast Loin of Pork with Green Peppercorn Sauce from Ina's new Barefoot in Paris cookbook, cauliflower gratin with gruyere (from same), the applesauce, a perky little salad, good wine and a granny smith apple pie with my favorite buttery pie crust.

Saturday came and I was busy most of the day - cooking, tidying up our fairly (for now) tidy house and getting some last minute touch up things done that you do when company is coming. Dinner was at six o'clock so we managed to get the lawn mowed (no moles!), new curtains hung up, china polished and even a couple of new plants in the garden bed. We were spit-shined and polished, candles lit on the mantle, food finished on time and warm in the oven - really, ready to rock and roll.

Six o'clock came and six o'clock went. At six fifteen I got the message from a couple hours earlier - our company couldn't come.

I said this story had a happy ending, and it does. The roast loin was delicious and I now have two recipes from the Paris cookbook that I've tried and liked. The pie was eaten up by visiting family and the wine didn't go to waste either - let's just say that I enjoyed myself tremendously with the Cellarmaster Riesling.

So, I can recommend this recipe and even tell you that if you can't find brined green peppercorns (as I couldn't) you can substitute dried ones soaked in hot water beforehand. It was quite a sight to see me picking them out of a peppercorn mix one at a time until I had enough for a quarter cup.

Enjoy the silver lining to this story and try the roast loin. It was quite tasty. So was the Riesling.