Asian Pork Roast Salad

Posted by in The Kitchen

What began as a tasty pork roast ended up as an unexpectedly delicious salad! This is a great way to stretch a recipe: Serve the Asian Pork Roast as an entree, then combine leftover pork with fresh spinach, mandarin oranges, candied pecans and a tamari vinaigrette for a wonderfully refreshing entree salad. Perfect for that late night dinner or special brunch!

Pork Roast:

2 tbl dark soy sauce
1 tbl light soy sauce
2 tbl oyster sauce
1 tsp five spice powder
2 tbl honey
2 tbl dry white wine
4 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1 tbl sesame oil
Coarse salt
Freshly ground pepper
1 bone-in pork shoulder blade or butt roast, about 4 pounds

Combine first nine ingredients in a small bowl. Set aside. Score fat side of roast in diamond pattern with sharp knife. Season roast liberally with salt and pepper. Rub marinade over roast, and marinate for at least two hours in the refrigerator or overnight.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Allow roast to come to room temperature (30-45 minutes). Place roast on rack and cook for one hour, basting after 45 minutes. Tent with foil if roast browns too quickly. Reduce heat to 325 and cook until roast reaches internal temperature of 155 degrees, about one and half hour more. Remove from oven and let sit for fifteen minutes before carving. Slice and serve with rice and a steamed vegetable.

To make salad:

1 lb cold, cooked pork roast
1 bag washed baby spinach leaves
1 small can mandarin oranges, drained
Candied pecans
Tamari or any other bottled Asian vinaigrette

Slice cold roast thinly, removing sections from bone before slicing if necessary. Rewarm slightly in microwave with pan drippings. Set aside. Place spinach in a large bowl. Add orange segments and sprinkle with pecans. Arrange warm pork on top of salad. Drizzle with vinaigrette and serve immediately.