Recipe – Roasted pork loin with rosemary

While I was going through my notes of what we recently cooked I remembered that I did not post the main course from when we had company last weekend. It is a very simple dish that is a nice solid main course for a small group of people like 2 couples. You can prepare it and put it in the oven and forget it for an hour or so while you are enjoying the company of your guests, then you just need to prepare the sauce quickly and carve it to get ready for the table. With a minimum of preparation and fuss you have a nice main course. We served it with a nice bowl of mixed lettuce with a simple dressing of some herbs, olive oil, and sherry vinegar, and a few chile de arbol. A quickly prepared feast for the holiday season. We served the roast with a young (2004) Chilean red wine called Trio that is a blend of cabernet sauvignon, shiraz, and cabernet franc.

Ingredients

2 pounds boned pork loin
1/2 pound bacon
1 stick of butter at room temperature
1 bunch of fresh rosemary
1/2 cup of chopped dried apricots
1 small bulb of garlic
1 pound baby potatoes
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 cup red wine
3 tbs flour
1 cup chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Boil the baby potatoes until they are cooked but still firm, then drain them well
2. Preheat oven to 400F
3. Dry the pork loin with paper towels then cut a pocket in it on the long side from close to an end to slightly short of the other end. The incision should be deep past the center of the meat
4. Mix the softened butter with the apricots and the broken leaves of 2 or 3 sprigs of rosemary
5. Stuff the pocket with the butter mixture
6. Salt and pepper the meat
7. Lay the bacon on top of the pork loin wrapping it underside and tied it neatly with butcher twine
8. Place the prepared roast on a rack in the middle of a shallow roasting pan
9. Take a sharp knife and poke holes about 1 inch deep in the meat and stick pieces of rosemary in the meat through the bacon
10. With your fingers break open the baby potatoes and arrange them around the roast
11. Put some bruised rosemary leaves in the opening of each potato
12. Salt and pepper the potatoes then drizzle some olive oil in them
13. Place the garlic bulb on the rack with the potatoes
14. Place the roasting pan in the middle of the preheated oven and cook for approximately an hour until the bacon is nice and crisp
15. Remove the pork, garlic, potatoes, and the rack and all but 3 tbs of the rendered fat in it
16. Cover the roast and potatoes with a piece of foil and a towel to keep warm
17. Place the roasting pan on the stove at medium heat and add the flour to the fat and cook it while stirring for a few minutes
18. Take the roasted garlic bulb and remove the cloves and squeeze them into the pan
19. Deglaze the pan with the red wine and stir well until the flour is well incorporated
20. Add some rosemary and the chicken stock and stir until you have a nice smooth thick sauce
21. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper to taste
22. Carve and serve the meat covered in a thick layer of sauce

Lucito