Throwback Thursday - Greek Stuffed Pork Roast

Lately I have begun to go through my old posts at my other blog, No ReEats. I will start craving something and comb through this blog, sure that I not only made this tasty thing but I know I blogged it. I remember photographing it and writing about it but I can't seem to find it. For some reason the last place I look is No ReEats, sort of like the fact that Shack always finds his keys in the pants he wore yesterday but that is always the place he ignores because he is sure he didn't leave them in there.
Anyway, I am going to start reposting my favourites from over there to here every Thursday so I can have them all in one place, at last. I have moved The Week in Yum to Saturday so, from now on, there will be two regularly scheduled postings each week. Let's get in the way way back machine....

From Thursday, January 26, 2012:

It was a rare night where both of my men were going to be home for dinner so I kindly asked them if they would like to put in any requests. I got a "whatever you want to make" from The Kid and a very emphatic "I don't want any curried anything and nothing stir fried" as Shack stomped out the door.
Well, okay then. Somebody has been working and living off catering for too long I think. It was time for a manly meal of roast meat.



My first impulse was to do a pork tenderloin with a nice mustard, creamy pan sauce but that is how I usually make pork. I realized the one thing I never do is to cook a pork loin roast and I certainly never butterfly it and stuff it. The Kid is turning into a hungry teenager and the days of 1 pork tenderloin feeding all three of us for dinner are behind us so it's time for me to start getting used to different cuts of meat. Greek roasted potatoes were already on the menu so it made sense to do the pork with flavours to compliment them. Spinach, feta, garlic, oregano and lemon was perfect to stuff the roast and a nice port pan sauce finished it off nicely.

Greek Stuffed Pork Loin

ingredients

1kg (2 lb) pork loin roastolive oilsalt and pepperoreganocotton kitchen stringolive oil1/2 red onion, chopped finely1 clove garlic, chopped1/4 cup finely diced, seeded tomatozest from one lemon1 bunch fresh spinach, washed and roughly choppedsalt and pepper100g (approx 3/4 cup) crumbled feta cheese1 slice fresh bread buzzed into crumbs2 tbls oreganozest from 1 lemonpinch kosher saltsauce:1 small shallot, minced1/2 cup port1/2 cup chicken stock1 tbls cold butter


directions
Butterfly your pork roast - here is a video showing you both methods - just butterfly it unless you want to make yourself all crazy.

to make the stuffing, heat up a small glug of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Saute the red onion and garlic for about 5 minutes until softened. Add the tomato and the spinach and stir it around until the spinach is wilted. Take it off the heat, add the lemon zest, stir again and taste and salt and pepper to taste. Let it cool to room temperature before you add the feta and the bread crumbs.

spread the stuffing evenly over the butterflied pork loin and then fold it back over like a book.
Mix together the oregano, zest and salt and rub that all over the top of the pork roast (fat side up).Now tie that thing together with kitchen twine (the video shows you how to do the twine. Honestly, as long as you tie it up nice and tight and don't care about it looking pretty, just do what you can).


Preheat the oven to 425F

heat an oven proof skillet or pan over med heat with a bit of olive oil.  Put the pork roast in the pan, fat side down and brown it for a few minutes before turning it over, fat side up again and put it in the oven. After about 15 minutes, turn the heat down to 325F and continue to roast until the internal temp of the pork is about 155F (that took about another 45 min). Take it out and let it sit for another 10 to 15 minutes while you make a pan sauce to serve with it if you like.

For pan sauce:  In the pan you roasted the pork in, sauté the shallot in the drippings over med heat for a few minutes. Add the port and simmer for a minute, scraping up all the bits from the pan before you add the chicken stock. Let that simmer and reduce by half or for about 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in a tbls of cold butter.
Slice your pork roast and drizzle the sauce over it.
YUM