Roasted Pork with Maple Mustard Crust

I found this recipe in the January 08 "Fine Cooking" magazine. This is the first magazine I buy when going on vacation - it's beautiful and informative with many good tips and recipes. My copies of their "Quick and Easy" special edition magazines are well used.

1 - 4 lb. boneless pork loin roast

1/4 cup maple syrup
3 Tbsp whole grain mustard
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh thyme
3/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 large fennel bulb or 2 small bulbs, cored, and thinly sliced*
2 granny Smith apples peeled, cored and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 Tbsp. olive oil
salt

* I didn't have any fennel when I first made this so I used about a Tbsp. of fennel seed instead and the flavour was wonderful.

Position rack in the centre of the oven and heat the oven to 450 degrees.
In a small bowl, mix the maple syrup, mustard, thyme and pepper. Pat pork roast dry with paper towel and brush it all over with the mustard mixture.

In a medium bowl, toss the fennel and apple with the oil, salt and a few generous grinds of pepper.
Scatter the mixture in the bottom of a large roasting pan (the pan should be large enough to leave a couple of inches of space between the roast and the sides of the roaster.)
Put the pork, fat side up, on top of the fennel and apples. (you can put the roast on a small rack over the apples.)

Roast the pork until the crust just starts to brown, about 15 minutes.
Reduce the heat to 350 dgrees and continue cooking until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the roast registers 145-150 dgrees - about 30- 40 minutes more.

Remove roast from oven and let rest on the counter - loosely tented with foil - for 10 minutes
While roast is resting, use a slotted spoon and remove apple/fennel mixture to a small bowl.

To make a gravy, add about 1 cup apple juice and a splash of white wine, if desired, to juices in pan and while it simmers scrape the pan with a spatula to incorporate all the brown crusty bits into the sauce.. Mix a little cornstarch with cold apple juice until blended and add to pan juices, stirring constantly until it thickens slightly. Season to taste.

Place roast on serving platter and spoon apple/fennel mixture over roast. Top with several spoons full of the gravy. Slice into thin slices at the table and serve with the remaining gravy.