As you can probably tell, I love food magazines and eagerly anticipate when they show their faces each month in my piles of mail. When they come, I immediately remove the plastic wrapping, then carefully tear off the outer cover that’s devoted to advertising, to reveal the glossy, perfect food porn shots and exciting headlines that lay beneath. 

Then,  I tuck each perfect, shiny copy away in a neat stack as they arrive, one by one, Gourmet, Food & Wine, Bon Appétit, Saveur, and (with less frequency) The Art of Eating. Once my collection is complete, I plunk down with the whole stack and do a run through for intriguing recipes and the most exciting articles, dog-earing as I go along.

Don’t you dare touch my magazines before I get to read them – I’m this way about all of my subscriptions – god help you if you touch them before I do. I’m sort of a brat like that – not sure why.

Everyone who has ever lived with me knows that it’s hands off until I’ve had my turn. 

I guess it’s because so much of what we will eat is first glimpsed during these sessions. And for me, that’s like having Christmas morning over and over again. Each magazine is full of surprise menus, just waiting for me to discover them.

And, ever the picture of moderation, I like to enjoy them as a feast, often accompanied by a glass of wine.

Take, for example, this lovely recipe for roasted pork loin. It was one of those recipes where I saw a photo and knew – yes, I will make you. It originally appeared in a dramatic montage of an Easter meal. By the way, I both love and loathe those articles, which Gourmet seems to find so enchanting, that apply theatrical, fake scenarios to real food by making up a story to set the scene (it’s sort of like watching Gossip Girl, but with food). 

Anyway, the pork came out juicy and tender, and the sauce was all the Dijon mustardy, vermouthy, savory taste explosion that I was hoping for. The only disappointment here was that the recipe involved a large quantity of fresh herbs, which ultimately played a sort of hands-off role in the finished product. There was herb scent, without a lot of herb flavor. I think next time, I’d probably just use rosemary and call it a day.

Herb-Roasted Pork Loin Recipe
Adapted from Gourmet, April 2009

FOR PORK

1 (4- to 4 1/2 lb) boneless pork loin roast, trimmed

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon olive oil, divided

6 rosemary sprigs, divided

8 large thyme sprigs, divided

8 sage sprigs, divided

8 savory sprigs (optional), divided

1/2 cup finely chopped shallots (4 to 5)

2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

FOR SAUCE

1/3 cup dry vermouth

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1 3/4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth

1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

ROAST PORK:

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.

Pat pork dry and season with 1 3/4 tsp salt and 1 1/2 tsp pepper. Straddle a flameproof roasting pan over 2 burners, then heat 1 Tbsp oil over medium-high heat until it shimmers. Brown pork on all sides, then transfer to a large plate.

Put a metal rack in pan and arrange half of herbs down middle of rack. Stir together shallots, garlic, mustard, and 1 Tbsp oil and smear over top and sides of roast, then put roast, fat side up, on top of herbs. Roast 1 hour. Toss remaining herbs with remaining tsp oil and arrange on top of roast.

Continue roasting until an instant-read thermometer registers 140 to 145°F, 5 to 15 minutes more (temperature will rise 5 to 10 degrees as it rests). Transfer pork to a cutting board and let rest 15 to 25 minutes.

MAKE SAUCE WHILE PORK RESTS:

Remove rack from pan and discard herbs from rack. Straddle pan across 2 burners on medium heat. Add vermouth and mustard and deglaze by boiling, stirring and scraping up brown bits, until reduced by half. Add broth and simmer 3 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a 2-cup measure. If you have more than 1 1/2 cups, boil to reduce; if less, add water.

Melt butter in a heavy medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour and cook, whisking, until pale golden, about 3 minutes. Whisk in vermouth mixture and simmer until slightly thickened, about 3 minutes.

Serve pork with sauce.