Ask the butcher to butterfly a pork loin roast twice to result in having a piece of meat that is in one long, evenly thick rectangle (the term is "butterflied twice"). There are butchers who are happy to do this for you. My experience has been that Whole Foods butchers respond with a smile and tell you they'll be glad to do it. The butcher starts with a nice round roast and cuts the meat so it will become a flat piece of meat of equal thickness. See the first picture below. Make sure the butcher leaves a piece of fat on top for roasting to keep the meat juicy.
You're going to prepare a stuffing that you'll lay evenly over the top of the piece of meat. See the second picture below.
Then you will simply start at one end and use your hands to roll the meat back into a round roast. You will then secure the roll by tying butcher string tightly around the roast at each end, and with another one or two stings in the middle if your doing a big roast. This is what you see in the picture above.
Ingredients:
- A pork loin roast equal to the size you need to feed those at the table (6-8 oz per serving)
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large sweet onion, chopped
- 2 tart apples, chopped in cubes (such as Granny Smith)
- 1 Cup dried berries (raisins are good. I used dried tart cherries and apple juice infused dried cranberries)
- 8-10 fresh sage leaves
- 2 cups bread cubes
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- Salt
- Pepper
- 2 Slices of Applewood bacon (optional)
- Chicken broth (You'll need 1/2 to 1 Cup, but it's good to have more available if needed)
The above ingredients are enough for a 3 1/2 to 4 pound roast. The roast pictured is only a 2 pound roast, so I cut the recipe in half. Double the recipe if you're going to fix a 6 or 8 lb roast.
Instructions:
Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.
In a heavy deep skillet, heat the olive oil using a medium-high heat setting. Add the onions and apples and stir the ingredients well. Add the berries and stir them in. Finally, gently stir in the bread cubes. When the ingredients are cooked just to the point of being soft, gradually start adding chicken broth until the ingredients are nice and moist. Turn the heat off and move the skillet off the hot burner. Let the ingredients cool.
Lay the roast out flat on a board and start spooning the cooled stuffing ingredients on the meat from one end to the other until there is a nice even layer of stuffing. Then use your fingers to start rolling the meat up into a mice round roast. Tie butcher string tight around each end to hold the roast together. Then add 1 or 2 more strings in between only if they are needed to hold the roast together. You can buy a small quantity of butcher string at supermarkets or at stores that sell kitchen utensils.
You may want to consider topping the roast with 2 strips of Applewood bacon for moisture and flavor.
Cook the roast for about an hour and a half at 375 degrees until a meat thermometer inserted into the center of the roast registers 160 degrees. If you do not have a digital meat thermometer it is a good idea to buy one, along with a replacement battery or two for back up. It's not way cool to need your thermometer and discover the battery is dead.
Let the roast rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing it.
Here are photos of the butterflied roast and two of the preparation steps.
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