Christmas has officially begun. According to the songs the most wonderful time of the year. I, as a foodlover, cannot entirely disagree with this statement. I love Christmas dinners where the entire family and loved ones are sitting around the table eating food that someone spent hours preparing, drinking wine that you normally wouldn’t buy, and watch movies that are only allowed to be watched around this time of year.

But another thing I love about Christmas is traditions. The best ones are the ones that you take with you when you leave your parents house and carry on with and share with the people outside your family. In light of sharing dishes, I was approached by Bunny Eats Design to share my blog and thus my recipe with Our Growing Edge, which is group of food lovers that share their foodie experiences and are looking to push their edges and continuously try out new things.

There are two Christmas food traditions that I love and took with me. When I see my mom or dad make this I know it’s Christmas. The first thing is a pork roast, which we at home refer to as ‘kerstvlees’. (It has been a part of Christmas, mostly breakfast, as long as I can remember) and stewed pears, which I will write about in a different post.

But for now, the pork roast! It is the first Christmas that I do not have to work or cook any Christmas dinner, except for last night. I had the house to myself and was planning a relaxed evening on the couch with my favourite Christmas movie; the Grinch. I ended up being in the kitchen til 21.00 due to no time management haha, but the result was super tasty. Just scroll down to read the full recipe.

Patricia’s kerstvlees (pork roast)

Ingredients
500 grams of pork. (I bought one that was already wrapped in the strings)
Oil or butter
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Cumin
Thyme
Paprika powder

Method
1. Preheat the oven at 160 degrees. I have a fan oven so temperatures might differ with an electric one.
2. Put all the spices in a bowl. I used a mortar and pestle and crushed all the herbs together in that. Again, I did not measure the spices. I just kept tasting it in between until I was happy with the result.
3. Rub the pork with the spices mix on all sides.
4. Heat oil or butter in a pan (I use sunflower oil). When the oil is hot, cook the pork on all sides until they have a nice brown colour.

5. Transfer the pork from the pan to an oven dish and place it in the middle of the oven for 50 minutes. You can make your side dishes in the meantime.
6. After 50 minutes take out the oven dish and let the roast rest for about 10 minutes.

7. Slice it and enjoy! I have to say: it was pretty delicious. Not as tasty as the one my mom makes, but still really tasty.

What’s your favourite Christmas tradition?

Love,
Patricia