Friday, November 22, 2013

Stuffed Pork Loin Roast




This is a recipe that's a hit with every meat-eater I serve it to. I take a large, wide pork loin and butterfly it, then I stuff it with bread, raisins, onions and parsley, and tie it up to roast. When it's finished, every slice has a center of savory, slightly sweet stuffing! Make sure to select a pork loin that is thick and wide, as there are also long and narrow ones, sometimes pre-marinated, that are much harder to stuff. You will need a thick, wide one in order to butterfly it.


Ingredients:

1 large, wide pork loin, about 3 to 4 pounds
4 slices of bread, wheat or white is fine
2 tablespoons butter
1 small sweet onion
1/4 cup raisins
1 bunch flat leaf Italian parsley
2 tablespoons olive oil
kosher salt 
pepper 
herbes de Provence (optional)
kitchen string 

Preheat oven to 375F or 190C. Dice onion and dried raisins into small pieces, and chop 1/4 cup worth of parsley leaves. In a large, nonstick pan, cook the onions, raisins, butter and parsley with a light sprinkling of salt and pepper.


Meanwhile, tear your bread into small pieces and place into a medium bowl. When the onions are translucent and the raisins have softened, put the onion mixture into the bowl of bread. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, along with 2 tablespoons water. Toss the mixture together and set aside.

Using a large, sharp knife, slice into your pork loin from the side, butterflying it so that it opens like a book, with the meat thickness even on both sides.


Take your stuffing mixture and place it in the center of the pork loin, lightly packing it down to fit as much as possible.

(Don't worry, those veggies in back got cooked into more stuffing, I'd never serve raw veggies that had been in contact with raw meat!)

Using several pieces of string, close the pork loin "book" over the stuffing and tie simple knots to keep the roast closed and tight. Some stuffing may fall out, but you can push this back in on the sides.



Coat the roast in olive oil and lightly dust with salt, pepper and herbs. Place the meat onto a rack in a roasting pan. If you don't have a roasting rack, place the meat on top of several celery stalks to create a makeshift rack. If you have a probe thermometer, insert the probe into the thickest part of the meat (not stuffing) and set the temperature to 145 degrees, then begin roasting in the oven. If you don't have a probe, roast your pork loin for 1 hour and then check with a meat thermometer, making sure the meat comes to 145 degrees.

Allow the roast to rest for 10 minutes, and remove the string before slicing. Resting will allow the temperature of the roast to rise to between 150 and 155 degrees, which will give you juicy, medium-cooked pork. Your meat should be perfectly cooked and not dry at all. Serve with cinnamon applesauce if desired, and enjoy!

Serves 4-6
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