How to cook my pork loin roast?

[Laurel]

I got a pretty lean pork roast(about 2lbs) at TJ's today, and I want to serve it with a pasta dish that I'm still working out a recipe for as well.

The pasta dishwill contain
wilted spinach
fusili
halved grape tomatoes
chopped zucchini
parmesan cheese(thinking of making a thin sauce out of this and some milk)

I thought about just searing the roast, then sticking it in the oven, but it seems pretty boring, and it's so lean, I'm worried about it drying out. I'd like to stuff it, but I don't want to overwhelm the simple flavors of the pasta. Would you suggest a mixture of the cheese, and some chopped tomatoes, zucchini and spinach sautéed then rolled in the roast? After searing it, I could roll it in some parmesan? I'm kind of out of ideas at this point.

What do you think? Oh, and I don't have a smoker, and it's going to be a weeknight meal, so no 4 hour cooking either.

 

[JustDave]

I made this once and it came out pretty good. I used bacon instead of pancetta:

Mmmm, pork wrapped with more pork. Gotta love it!

 

[Revvy]

I'm not sure if either of mine from this thread will fit the bill...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=649730&postcount=6

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=649735&postcount=9

I also have a korean barbecue style but it's uber spicy...

 

[Laurel]

Hmmm, I'm not looking to do anything with lots of ingredients.

I think I'll brine it for 24 hours and make a compound butter of some sort with some of my roasted garlic butter I have in the fridge to stuff it with.

 

[zoebisch01]

I'd grill it if you are going to brine it. The stuffing idea sounds good, but the compound butter will probably melt out and leave a void, you'd need something to capture and hold all that garlicky goodness . But given that you already have a starch that sort of rules out rice stuffings. I'd go back to your original idea with the Spinach and other ingredients. Ricotta, some other form of grated cheese, a little bread crumb to bind and seasoning (you may consider an egg beaten as well). You'll probably want to wilt out the Spinach and grill off the Zucchini prior to stuffing as they will exude tons of liquid when they cook.

 

[Laurel]

I'd grill it if you are going to brine it. The stuffing idea sounds good, but the compound butter will probably melt out and leave a void, you'd need something to capture and hold all that garlicky goodness . But given that you already have a starch that sort of rules out rice stuffings. I'd go back to your original idea with the Spinach and other ingredients. Ricotta, some other form of grated cheese, a little bread crumb to bind and seasoning (you may consider an egg beaten as well). You'll probably want to wilt out the Spinach and grill off the Zucchini prior to stuffing as they will exude tons of liquid when they cook.

I got it brining with some water, salt, brown and white sugar(ran out of brown) peppercorns and some allspice berries last night. I'll make a stuffing out of chopped and sautéed zucchini, spinach, tomatoes, butter, parmesan and breadcrumbs.

How do you recommend grilling it? I don't have any experience with grilling larger(thicker) cuts of meat.

 

[zoebisch01]

Preheat your grill to high, all burners. When it's good and hot, place the roast on the grill and get some nice charring started on that side. When it gets brown and has good grill marks on it, flip it and then turn the burner(s) directly below it to low and close the lid. The other burner(s) are used to control your heat indirectly. You want them around med to high, it will vary from grill to grill but basically you are going to mimic an oven. The test for done-ness would be to insert a metal skewer in through the stuffing (not the meat) into the center. Leave it set for about 10 seconds and then draw it out and touch it (carefully) to your upper lip. It should be hot to the touch when it's done. Of course, you could use a meat thermometer from the get-go. If you are using charcoal, you'd have to rake it aside to give you an indirect area after the initial charring/browning. I'd imagine you'll probably be in the 45 minute ballpark, but that will vary depending on how thick the final roll is, etc.

You may want to add a beaten egg into the stuffing to help bind it, unless you plan on using a lot of Parmesan.

 

[Laurel]

Thanks! I appreciate it!

 

[Laurel]

It was pretty good. All of the filling melted out of it because I had to cut it strangely. I'll do a better job next time. And there will be a next time. It was an excellent pairing.

 

[zoebisch01]

Cool!

 

[BrianP]

I was too late to post before you made your roast, but I've had good results roasting pork loins after covering them with the usual salt/pepper/olive oil, but also lemon slices and minced fresh thyme. I start at 450 to give it some color, then go lower until it's done. I also brine mine beforehand. The lemon/thyme goes well with pasta dishes and is subtle.