Smothered Pork Roast With Rice

Today's dish comes from Deep South Dishes, although I am not sure if it was from their site or some else's post on Facebook that I shared the recipe from.  

Ingredients:

• 6 or 7 pound boneless pork roast (shoulder or butt)
• Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• 2 tbsp. canola oil
• 2 onions, halved and sliced thin
• 6 cloves garlic, cut into thin slices
• 1 tsp. fried thyme, crushed
• 1 tsp. dried rosemary, crushed
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 32 oz. carton chicken broth

Directions:

• Sprinkle the pork roast with salt and pepper and allow it to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 275 degrees (F).
• Heat canola oil over medium high heat in the bottom of a cast iron Dutch oven and sear the port on all sides; remove and set aside.
• In the same pot, add the onion and cook until lightly caramelized.
• To the onion, add sliced garlic, a pinch of salt, some freshly cracked black pepper, the thyme, and the rosemary; add a splash of the chicken broth to deglaze the pan.
• Cook and stir another couple of minutes, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot.
• Remove the onion mixture and set aside.
• In the same pot, melt the butter over medium heat to start a roux.
• Stir in the flour a little at a time until fully incorporated.
• Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture reached a peanut butter color, about 10 minutes.
• Slowly stir in the chicken broth until mixture is fully incorporated, thick, and bubbly.
• Add the onion mixture into the roux and stir.
• Add the seared roast to the pot and ladle some of the gravy over the top of it.
• Cover and cook at 275 degrees (F) for 3 hours, or until meat pulls away easily with a fork, turning the roast about every 30 minutes and basting it with gravy.  Test for a minimum internal temperature of 145 degrees (F).
• Serve as is, or remove the roast, skim off the fat, and simmer gravy until reduced and thickened; use a slurry of cornstarch and water to thicken if desired.
• Serve the roast smothered with a generous amount of gravy and hot rice.