Stuffed Pork Loin

One of the simplest things in the world to prepare is a pork tenderloin. Season the outside, stick a thermometer in it and roast it until it's at your preferred doneness (medium rare, 135 to 140 degrees for me). Then slice it into medallions and serve with your favorite sides and maybe some kind of sauce.

A little more time consuming, but still easy,is to butterfly, stuff, and roll the pork into a thicker roast. The presentation on this is beautiful, and not unlike a pizza crust, the pork give you a canvas on which to create.

The day I made this, my plan was the simple throw-it-in-the-oven method, but it was a spring day that was still acting like winter, so I decided to play. Since it was an unplanned rabbit hole trip, I needed to work with what I had in the house -- mostly to be able to ignore the cold weather which I'd need to acknowledge by dressing appropriately had I left for a grocery trip.

I had some fresh spinach and Campari tomatoes, and them among the staples, some sweet onions, garlic, Parmesan cheese, and herbs de Provence -- not a bad combination of flavors and textures.....

Butterflying the pork loin is pretty simple with a mallet between a couple of pieces of wax paper. The technique is to slice it lengthwise to within 1/2 inch of slicing all the way through. I usually slice from the shaggy bottom side (where it was removed from the bone), but I'm not sure if there's right or wrong, but I've also seen folks slice parallel to the 'top'. Either way, once you've sliced almost all the way through, you open the meat like you would open a book and lay it cut side up on a cutting board. More to avoid spattering than anything else, place a piece of wax paper over the meat and use a mallet to pound it to an even thickness of 1/4 to 1/2 inches thick. (I like it a bit to the thick side of the range because it's easier to attain the medium rare doneness)

At this point you get to create.....

I started by patting the meat dry and rubbing it with a sprinkling of salt, pepper, garlic powder, and herb de Provence. The next addition was some shredded Parmesan.

NOTE: I organized the layers so that an early layer of cheese and one at the end might serve as a kind of glue to hold the spinach and tomatoes in place.

After the first sprinkle of cheese, I layered the baby spinach leaves to cover most of the meat. Next I layered the sliced Campari tomatoes, and lastly I added another layer of cheese.

Before I get to the rolling and trussing, I need to emphasize that your fillings are totally up to you. Think about what you might serve on the side and how you can incorporate it instead. Caramelized onions, mushrooms and Swiss cheese could be yummy. It's not against the rules to add some starch, so taking some left over Spanish rice and on top of a Mexican inspired rub with cumin, cilantro, and garlic would also be yummy. My mother used to 'frost' meatloaf with mashed potatoes, I can see cheesy mashed potatoes inside the pork as another variation. Anyway, be adventurous!

This is the only part of this recipe that might take a tiny bit of skill. Rolling and tying the roast so that all the ingredients stay inside can be a bit of a challenge. It's important to have some good cotton butcher's string and scissors to cut it. When I construct this, I begin rolling from the narrow end of the meat toward the wider end in the opposite perpendicular to the original cut. That avoids having a narrow 'tongue' at the end of the roll and insures a nice even edge at the ends of the log.

After the 'log' is rolled, I tied it twice to hold it closed, and then I tied it long ways with 2 rounds of string and tucked the ends as I was doing that. If you're one of those people who needs a co-pilot for making bows when wrapping gifts, you might want to employ your person when tying off the roast -- it could totally eliminate the only modicum of stress that might dampen this otherwise fun recipe prep.

Once the roast was secure, I gave it another rub of salt, pepper, garlic powder and herbs de Provence before inserting the thermometer (135 degrees). This roast was about 1.5 pounds and in a 425 degree oven, was at temperature in about 45 minutes. After a 5 - 7 minute rest out of the oven, it was ready to slice and serve with some scalloped potatoes that I baked that afternoon.

THE RECIPE:

1.5 Lb. pork tenderloin butterflied

2T herbs de Provence divided

2t each salt, pepper, and garlic powder divided

8 Oz. of fresh baby spinach

Sliced tomato to make one layer on the meat

1.2 - 1C shredded Parmesan cheese

Preheat your oven to 400 or 425 degrees (depending on how browned you like the outside of your roast)

Pat the butterflied pork dry with a paper towel

Rub half of the seasonings into the cut side of the meat

Sprinkle half of the shredded cheese

Layer the spinach leaves to cover the meat (It may be multiple layers)

Layer a single layer of tomato slices to cover the spinach

Sprinkle to remaining cheese on the tomato layer.

Carefully roll the stuffed loin starting at the narrow end (perpendicular to the butterfly cut you made)

When it's completely polled, cut 2 lengths of butcher's string long enough to wrap and tie around the roast

Tie the string around the roast dividing it approximately in thirds.

Cut 2 lengths of string that will go around the roast lengthwise with enough length to tie them off.

Lay one of the long lengths of string out on your cutting board and carefully lay the rolled roast on top of it.

Tucking the ends of the roast, bring the string up and tie it at the center

Set the second piece of string out and carefully roll the roast a quarter turn and on to the string so the first lengthwise tie is on the side of the roast (it was on the top before the turn)

Tie off the second string lengthwise as you sis the first and place the roast in a roasting pan.

Rub the remaining seasonings on, insert your meat thermometer into the center of the roast and set it into the preheated oven.

Bake until it reaches your desired temperature.

Let it rest for 4-7 minutes, where the temperature will continue to rise for 5 to 10 degrees and the fillings will set up a bit.

Slice it in 1/2" slices and enjoy!