Mary's Pork Loin with Garlic Sauce

Hey y'all, I am here in Round Rock, Texas, and I am getting fat! Why? Because there are so many good cooks around here! One of them is my second cousin, Mary, who made this incredible and delicious main dish for a party she had last Christmas. She is a very outgoing lady, and this is an expression of her love for people...

Ingredients: 

1 large pork loin--2-3 lbs. 

6 cloves minced garlic

1 large yellow onion, peeled and chopped

1/3 C vegetable or chicken stock

1 3/4 C heavy cream

3 C chopped spinach

1 t Italian seasoning

1 t red pepper flakes

Salt and pepper

1 C Parmesan Cheese (grated)

Directions:

Heat oil in a large skillet. Season meat with paprika, salt and pepper. Brown outside of loin by turning over in skillet until all sides of meat look cooked (don't worry, we will cook the inside later). Remove from pan and put to one side.

Melt 2 T butter in same skillet. Add garlic, onion, Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes. Sauté until fragrant over medium heat. Add stock, allow to reduce. Reduce heat to low, add cream and salt and pepper to taste. Add spinach and cheese and pour over meat in a large baking dish (or two smaller ones, after you cut the meat in half). Bake in a 350-degree oven until the meat is done, a long slowwwwww cooking time is best, probably about 45 minutes in the oven or 4-6 hours on High in a Crockpot. Mary served this with tiny (red?) steamed potatoes, but cauliflower rice or cous-cous is fine.

Note: The sauce will separate when it cooks with the meat. So, to avoid this, after the sauce is made and cooked, I pour half of it into the Crockpot or baking pan with the meat and reserve half in the saucepan I make it in. Then I add 3 Cups of Chicken broth to the sauce in the Crockpot or baking pan. That takes care of the needed moisture for cooking the meat. Finally, I add about 3/4 Cup of sour cream to the reserved sauce before I serve it alongside of the meat. It takes down the spiciness just a tad and gives the sauce more body. Delicioso!