Roasted pork loin with cabbage bacon and spaetzle

 This was amazing folks.  We are still seeing some random food shortages so when I saw some pork loin, I snagged one and stuck it in the freezer.  Then I watched a YT video for spaetzle with cabbage, bacon, and onion.  These two came together tonight and it was awesome.  We've never made spaetzle and it wasn't without a hiccup.  We needed ours a little thinner.  So here's what we did.

Adapted from Allrecipes and K. Lopez-Alt

1 1/2 lbs pork loin

3 garlic cloves

salt

pepper

thyme

2 tbs olive oil

For the spaetzle-

140 grams of flour

2 eggs

1/4 cup + milk

1/2 lbs bacon, sliced into small bites

1 medium onion, sliced thinly

1/2 small cabbage, shredded

1 pad of butter

salt and pepper

Gruyere cheese, shredded (100 g or so)

For the pork loin-

Finely dice the garlic and then add in the salt, pepper and thyme

Pierce the pork 5-6 times with a knife and add about 1/2 of the garlic mixture to the holes

Add the remaining garlic to the top of the pork and drizzle over the olive oil

Bake at 350 until the internal temp reaches 145 degree

Remove from the oven and then tent (I don't know how long this took, 45 mins to an hour maybe).

For the spaetzle-

Mix up your spaetzle dough in a bowl, it should be thicker than pancake dough but still fluid, ours was a little thick and we needed to work a little harder, still turned out fine

Render the bacon fat in a large non stick pan and remove the bacon to a small bowl, save the bacon fat

Add the cabbage and onion and cook over medium high heat, carmelizing a little bit if that's what you like, until it's cooked through, remove to the same pan as the bacon

Meanwhile, cook your spaetlze - into a large pot of boiling water, press the spaetzle dough through a colander with a spatula, cooking until everything floats, stirring to agitate the water and noodles

Add the spaetzle to the pan you cooked the veg and bacon in with a pad of butter, you want to cook out the water and then crisp up the spaetzle a little bit

Stir often

Add the bacon and veg back in and season to taste with salt and pepper and olive oil if it's sticking

Cook until you get a crisp on everything

Add in the cheese and cook until melted

Top with chopped parsley if desired

Slice the pork and serve with spaetzle