Recipe - Loin Roast: Arista di Maiale (Roasted Herb-Stuffed Pork Loin)

Loin Roast Recipe: Arista di Maiale 

(Roasted Herb-Stuffed Pork Loin) 

  

Time: 2 hours

This is a common preparation in the Trattorias of Florence & northern Italy. Wonderfully adaptable preparation can be grilled over indirect heat, or baked in conventional oven.

Ingredients

1 loin roast
12 cloves garlic, peeled & chopped
3 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
4 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
Salt & freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 475º. Put garlic, rosemary, sage, and salt & pepper to taste into a small bowl. Toss well to combine and set aside.

2. Push the handle of a long wooden spoon through the center of one end of the roast, boring a hole through the entire roast and to the other end. Remove the spoon & then push it in again through the same hole several times, moving it around in a circular motion to widen the hole to about 3/4”.

3. Working with small amounts, push the her mixture into the loin with the handle and your fingers, working first from one end & then the other, filling the cavity to the center. Put the pork roast, bone side down, into a deep roasting pan. Pat dry, rub it all over with olive oil, and season generously all over with salt & pepper.

4. Roast pork in oven until golden brown (the roasting pan will smoke slightly as the fat drips onto it), about 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350º and continue to raost until the internal temperature of the pork registers 140º, about 1 hour more.

Transfer to carving platter & let rest for 10-15 minutes before carving into individual chops.

Serve with sautéed greens (e.g. kale or chard) & white beans. Serves 4-6, depending on roast size.

- Tails & Trotters, Newburg, Oregon

Inspired by the regional cured hams of Europe, Tails & Trotters is the Pacific Northwest’s first signature pork producer developed from pork finished on local hazelnuts. Tails & Trotters pork is mirrored after the famed Jamon Iberico from Spain; crafted from the Pata Negra, or black-footed Iberian pigs who roam the oak groves of south and southwest Spain feasting on acorns. Using the resources of this region, co-owner and founder Aaron Silverman substituted hazelnuts for acorns and the result was the development of a distinctive variety of Pacific Northwest prosciutto.

Studies have determined that pigs fattened on nuts produce meat with a higher percentage of healthy fats like scarce amino acids and unsaturated fats. The hazelnuts also increase flavor in both the fat and meat while producing the necessary intramuscular and subcutaneous (under the skin) fat cover necessary for prosciutto production—the main long-term objective for Tails & Trotters.

White Beans with Sage 
Pick through & rinse 3 cups dried cannellini or great northern beans (about 1.3 lbs). Put beans into a medium pot & cover with water. Add 1/4 cup olive oil and 10 fresh sage leaves. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low to maintain a very gentle simmer. Continue simmering gently, stirring occasionally, until the skins of the beans are tender and insides are soft, about 2 hours. Drain beans & transfer them to a large bowl. Add 1 cup olive oil and salt & pepper to taste. Toss gently and serve. Makes 8 cups.

-Adapted from: Saveur Magazine