Roast Pork and Potatoes with Bacon, Garlic and Sage

4- to 5-pound boneless pork roast
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 garlic cloves, slivered
1/2 pound bacon
1/4 cup fresh sage leaves
16 small red (new) potatoes, with skins

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Trim as much fat as possible from the roast. Rub roast with salt and pepper. With a sharp knife make small slits all over the roast and insert a sliver of garlic in each. Stretch each piece of bacon before using it (otherwise it will shrink when you wrap it around the roast). Wrap the strips around the pork, tucking sage leaves under each strip. Fasten the bacon with toothpicks.

Set the roast in a roasting pan and surround it with the potatoes which have been boiled in their skins for 10 minutes. Sprinkle the potatoes with salt and pepper. Roast for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, turning roast halfway through cooking. The roast is done when it registers 170°F on a meat thermometer.

Remove roast from the oven and let it rest in a warm place, covered loosely with foil, for 10 minutes. Remove toothpicks. Cut the roast into thick slices. Serve with the potatoes and spinach or green beans.

Makes about 6 servings.