Pork Roast with Dried-Fruit Compote

As the weather cools off and daylight hours become scarce, there's nothing better than coming home to a delicious smelling roast. Last week, we decided to see whether William's Sonoma's Pork Roast with Dried-Fruit Compote would fit that bill.

The recipe comes from the retailer's "Food Made Fast" series (the "Slow Cooker" issue, to be exact), and while "fast" and "slow cooker" are certainly oxymorons, the prep for this roast was unbelievably quick. The ingredient list only necessitates one "fresh" ingredient - the roast itself. Everything else is either a pantry staple (brown sugar), something you could substitute with a pantry staple (dried rosemary) or something you could pick up and keep on hand for whenever the mood for a roast strikes (dried fruit).

The only time-consuming step was browning the pork. Set your alarm an extra 20 minutes early and check the weather or catch up on the news while you work. It's a quick 15-minute task to brown the roast, and with an additional 5 minutes, you've deglazed the pan and are ready to go.

When we arrived at home, we were greeted with some fabulous smells and a roast so tender that it literally fell right off of the bone. It was so good that we didn't even have enough left over for lunches the next day, so we regrettably can't give you the skinny on how well it reheats!

All in all-this was a solid dish for a day when you know you won't have the energy to slave over the stove. And now that we know where to find Williams-Sonoma's stash of online recipes, we'll certainly be back for more!