Culinary Disasters

I really wanted to call this dish: Jeff decided to clean out his refrigerator and luckily just happened to have a defrosted pork loin.  Although some of my best and worst meals have been results of a fridge cleaning.

For this recipe you will need:

• 1 pork loin
• 1 bunch of spinach blanched (place the spinach in boiling water for a minute, drain, and then quickly cool the spinach down in a pan full of ice and water) or 1 package of frozen spinach thawed.
• 1 onion large dice
• 8 ounces of mushrooms large dice
• 3 cloves of garlic sliced thinly
• 1/4 cup of parsley
• 2 TB of bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup of parmigiano-reggiano cheese
• 1/4 cup of roasted pine nuts (place the pine nuts in a small skillet over medium for a couple of minutes or place them in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes)
• Pinch of crushed red pepper
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 TB of unsalted butter
• High temperature oil (I used an extra light olive oil)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. 

In a large skillet over medium heat add in a squirt of the oil and then the onions and mushrooms.  Cook till they are softened (about 10 minutes).  Add in the garlic and cook for another minute.

While this is softening time to turn the attention towards rolling the pork loin.  The best way I can describe this for those that like visual is imagine the pork loin is a roll of paper towels and you are unrolling the paper towels.  Start at the bottom of the roll slice it lengthwise until almost through.  Roll the pork loin and continue cutting till it is a flat piece of meat.  If you ask nicely most butchers will do this for you free of charge however, it is very easy to do just takes a couple minutes.  I have also found that putting the pork loin in the freezer for 30 minutes before firms it up to make it easier to cut.

Once the mushrooms and onions are done add the parsley, onions, mushrooms, crushed red pepper, bread crumbs, roasted pine nuts, parmigiano-reggiano cheese, spinach, and a pinch of salt and pepper to the food processor.  Pulse till combined and everything is chopped up. 

Spread the mixture over the pork loin leaving about 1 inch of space all the way around.

Start at one end of the loin roll it up and use kitchen twine to tie the roast every couple of inches.  Relax some of the mixture is going to come out of the sides and this is okand I just scrape it off.  Salt and pepper the outside of the loin.

Over medium-high heat and in an oven safe pan melt the 1 TB of butter with another TB of the oil.  Add the loin and cook till browned all over (about 5 minutes a side). 

Stick a thermometer into the middle of the loin, place the loin into the oven, and cook till the thermometer registers 140 degrees (remember pink pork will not kill you).  Remove the loin from the oven and set on a plate to rest for 10 minutes before slicing into 1-2 inch sections and serving.

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