Scott and I spent a quiet Christmas house-sitting at Lynnelle and Derek's house (see Christmas cookies, part 2). Since I had access to a full-sized kitchen, and since Lynnelle and Derek gave us a very generous gift certificate to a local grocery store called Staff of Life, I decided to cook a fancy Christmas dinner. Looking at the cover of Cuisine at Home's Nov/Dec issue with "The Best Tuscan Pork Roast Dinner," I thought that I'd give it a try.
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| Tuscan Pork roast dinner |
If you're looking for something out of the ordinary this holiday, take a Tuscan approach. Start by swapping turkey for this classic stuffed and rolled arista pork roast with pan sauce. The word arista comes from the Greek work aristos, meaning "the best," and refers to the quality of ingredients used to stuff the pork. Use the roll cutting method, to "unroll" the pork loin, then stuff it with golden raisins and fresh herbs for the best pork you'll ever eat.
Instead of mashed potatoes, try piped savory Duchess Sweet Potatoes. Not only are they loaded with pecorino and mascarpone, egg yolks firm them up during baking for an impressive presentation.
For a touch of green, go with wilted kale enhanced with garlic and prosciutto- it's the prefect veggie to round out the plate.
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| Tuscan pork roast out of the oven |
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| Cut open so you can see the layers of deliciousness |
Tuscan Pork Loin Roast from Cuisine at Home issue no. 96 November/December 2012
Note: Try to find a roast right at 3 1/4 pounds. A little less is fine, but any larger and the roast will be too big to fit into your saute pan.
Makes 8 servings
Total time: about 1 1/2 hours
Ingredients:
Combine:
4 tbsp. olive oil, divided
2 tbsp. minced fresh rosemary
2 tbsp. minced fresh parsley
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. fennel seed, ground
minced zest of 1 orange
Prepare:
1 boneless pork loin roast (3 1/4 lb)
1/2 cup golden raisins, plumped
salt and black pepper
Procedure:
1) Preheat oven to 425.
2) Combine 2 tbsp. oil,rosemary, parsley, garlic, fennel and zest.
3) Prepare the loin (see further instructions below). Drizzle 1 tbsp. of water over pork, then cover with plastic wrap. Pound pork with the flat side of a meat mallet to 1/2 inch thick.
4) Spread herb mixture over pork, sprinkle raisins over herbs, and season with salt and pepper.
5) Tightly roll pork into a log and snugly tie kitchen string around it at 1 1/2 inch intervals. Season outside of roast with salt and pepper.
6) Sear roast in remaining 2 tbsp. oil in a large ovenproof saute pan over medium-high heat until browned on all sides, 8-10 minutes. Cover pain with foil and transfer to oven.
7) Roast the pork roast 20 minutes, carefully remove foil, and roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part registers 145, about 20 minutes more. Remove pan from oven. transfer roast to a cutting board and tent with foil while preparing sauce. Drain excess oil from pan and prepare white pan sauce in the same pan.
8) To serve, remove string from roast. Thinly slice roast and serve with white pan sauce.
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| I apologize for the quality of this picture, but it at least gives you a better idea about what I'm talking about |
Directions for prepping the roll:
Note: The roll cut is the easiest way to get a pork loin thin enough to stuff and roll with a minimal amount of pounding. All you need is a sharp boning knife. Before you start the roll cut, be sure to remove the silver skin- it's a membrane found under the fat that's too tough to chew through.
Trimming: Lay loin parallel to table's edge and create a flap of silverskin to hold on to. Grasp the flap in your hand, placing the knife between the meat and the skin. With knife angled up toward skin, slice across the length of the loin to remove a whole strip of silverskin. Repeat until all silverskin and fat are removed.
Roll cutting: With loin perpendicular to table's edge and knife parallel to the cutting board, slice into right side of roast about 1/2 inch from the bottom. Continue slicing and unrolling the pork until the pork is flat and "unrolled." Take your time and keep your knife parallel to the board to maintain an even thickness and prevent cutting through the roast.
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| White wine pan sauce with orange and honey. Sheer deliciousness. |
White wine pan sauce with orange and honey
Ingredients:
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tbsp. minced shallots
1/2 cup dry white wine
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 tsp. honey
1 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
1 tbsp. AP flour
salt and black pepper to taste
Procedure:
1) Melt 1 tbsp. butter over medium heat in pan used to sear the roast. Stir in shallots; cook 30 seconds.
2) De-glaze pan with wine, scraping up browned bits. Reduce wine until nearly evaporated, 7-8 minutes. Whisk in broth, orange juice, and honey; bring to a simmer.
3) Combine softened butter and flour to form a paste, then whisk into sauce. Simmer sauce until thickened, about 1 minute; season with salt and pepper.
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| Wilted Garlicky kale (crispy prosciutto is on the side, waiting to be served) |
Wilted Garlicky Kale with crispy prosciutto
Ingredients:
4 oz. prosciutto, cut into thin strips
2 tbsp. olive oil, divided
6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup water
1 lb kale, stems and ribs removed, leaves chopped (16 cups packed)
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
salt to taste
Procedure:
1) Cook prosciutto in 1 tbsp. oil in large pot over medium heat until crisp. Transfer prosciutto to a paper-towel-lined plate. Add remaining 1 tbsp oil to the pot.
2) Sweat garlic, pepper flakes, and nutmeg in oil over medium-low heat, 1 minute. Stir in water and kale; cover and cook until tender, stirring occasionally, 20 minutes.
3) Stir in vinegar, season with salt, and garnish with prosciutto.
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| Big piles of dog sh#@. Erm... Duchess Sweet potatoes with pecorino and orange. |
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| Seriously though, we started calling them "pootatoes." Fortunately, they tasted delicious (although Scott had to smash them before he could eat them). |
Duchess Sweet potatoes with pecorino and orange
Ingredients:
Toss:
3 lb. peeled, diced sweet potatoes
2 tbsp. olive oil
salt and black pepper
Puree:
1 cup grated pecorino
8 oz. mascarpone cheese
4 egg yolks
2 tbsp. minced toasted walnuts
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
minced zest of 2 oranges
2 tbsp. fresh parsley
Procedure:
1) Preheat oven to 425. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2) Toss sweet potatoes with oil, salt, and pepper, then transfer to a prepared baking sheet. Roast sweet potatoes until fork-tender, 30 minutes; let cool 10 minutes.
3) Puree pecorino, mascarpone, egg yolks, walnuts, garlic, nutmeg, and zest in a food processor until smooth. Add sweet potatoes and continue pureeing until smooth; transfer to a bowl. Stir in parsley, then season with salt and pepper.
4) Transfer potatoes to a large piping bag fitted with a 1 1/2 inch star tip. Pipe eight mounds onto remaining prepared baking sheet; bake until tops are lightly browned, about 15 minutes.
First of all, I think this was the hardest meal that I've ever made (and I've made quite a few hard meals). I would highly highly highly recommend that, if you ever do decide to make this meal, you try to see if you can get your local butcher to "unroll" your pork roast for you. I had Scott do this part, and it must have taken him well over an hour, if not 2-3 hours! Mind you, we have very little experience butchering meat, and we didn't have the right tools, and we might not have had a "proper" pork roast at all (Scott said that the butcher had to put a pork roast together for him)... but still! It was very hard.
As for the meal itself, I figured I must have spent well over five and a half hours cooking this meal; what with all the things to coordinate and all the prepping that needed to be done ahead of time. Jeez! I'd judge this as more work than even thanksgiving, where at least I know ahead of time how much work is going into it. That being said, the meal is totally worth it. It is amazing! Amazing! Amazing! Okay, I think you get my point. One bite of the pork loin on its own convinced me of that fact. And then, when I tried it with the heavenly pan sauce, I was transported to another world. A world of sheer deliciousness.
A couple of notes on the sides:
1) I didn't really care for the kale that much. Steamed kale is not my favorite and it was a bit too garlicky for me. It was rather amusing that the garlic turned purple since I used purple kale.
2) When buying kale, know that I ended up using most of, but not quite all, of two bunches.
3) The Duchess sweet potatoes. Oh my....Where to start? Well, as you can see from the picture, they came out looking like giant piles of dog poop. Disgustingly and amusingly so. I think that this happened because of two reasons:
a) Although the recipe calls for sweet potatoes, I think Cuisine at home really used yams. Scott went out of his way to find actual sweet potatoes. Alas, sweet potatoes are much more brown in color than yams. The pictures that they show in the magazine show beautiful piped mounds of orange potatoes.
b) However, I didn't have a decorating tip, so I used a bag that I cut a corner out of. Thus, what could have been nicely decorated with ridges instead came out as solid piles. Once cooked, well, you see how they came out. We started calling them "pootatoes." Fortunately, they taste absolutely amazing (although Scott had to smush them a bit before he could eat them). They also have a great texture: hot crispy on the outside, soft and warm on the inside. I used parmesan cheese instead of pecorino as that was what I had around. Oh, and I used tangerine zest instead of orange peel in this (and all the other recipes) for the same reason.
All in all, even though it was a lot of work, I would definitely recommend setting aside some time and making this. It is amazing. Yum! But, unless you are a really good butcher, try to see if you can get someone else to do the butchering part for you. Yikes!
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| Another view of our Christmas dinner with a nice display of "pootatoes." |
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| Me enjoying the delicious meal. |
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