Stuffed Pork Loin Roast
- Serves: 6 – 8
- Preparation Time: 30 minutes
- Total Cooking time: varies (allow 16 minutes to the lb)
By request, here is a recipe for a stuffed pork loin. This is a sweet-savory blend of flavors that play very well off of each other. The sweet-sour bite of the dried cranberries emphasizing the earthy sweetness of the morel mushrooms (a wild mushroom that is second only to the truffle and available dried in most supermarkets) all wrapping together with a stuffing based on lean ground pork and sweet Italian sausage. The nice thing about this particular stuffed loin is it is equally delicious hot, or chilled the next day and sliced thinly for sandwiches. Try this as the centerpiece of your next large family gathering.
| Amount | Measure | Ingredients |
|---|---|---|
| 3-4 | lb | pork loin |
| 12 | oz | lean ground pork |
| 6 | oz | sweet Italian sausage |
| 1/4 | cup | shallots chopped fine |
| 2 | cloves | garlic crushed |
| 4 | oz | dried cranberries |
| 2 | oz | dried morel mushrooms |
| 1 | cup | heavy cream, warmed |
| 1/2 | cup | shelled pistachios chopped coarsely |
| 2 | large | eggs |
| 1/2 | teaspoon | ground black pepper |
To prepare:
Reconstitute the morel mushrooms by soaking 30 minutes in the warm cream, remove from cream and chop finely. While the morels are soaking, place the pork loin fat side down and cut down the middle to about ½” from the other side. Press in half and then cut the two halves similarly down the center to about 1/2:” thru. Butterfly the loin by covering in plastic wrap and pounding out with a mallet until somewhat flattened. Mix the lean ground pork and sausage together with the shallots, garlic, cranberries, chopped mushrooms, pistachios salt and peppper and remaining cream from the mushrooms together in a large bowl. Add in the eggs to bind and mix thoroughly. Spread this mixture out on the butter flied pork loin then roll the meat and stuffing jelly roll style. Season the roast with salt and pepper, then tie with butcher twine to secure. Place on a rack inside of a roasting pan in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for 16 minutes to the lb until well done and all juices run clear from the meat when pierced. Remove from the oven when done and let rest at least 15 minutes before carving. Serve with a cranberry sauce or caramelized onions.
