Stuffed Pork Loin with Chimichurri
Last Saturday Lara and I hosted a small Christmas gathering with our friend Lindsay and her husband Andrew. They both enjoy good food and trying new things so we were excited to try a new recipe, something fun we’ve never done before.
We thought that a stuffed pork loin sounded festive, fun, and celebratory. Something we won’t typically cook for ourselves, and sadly something our family just won’t enjoy that much so not something to make for them. I’m very thankful for friends who are excited about trying new things, because my family (however much I love them) isn’t.
We did some recipe hunting and settled on this recipe for an Argentinian style pork roast stuffed with olives, roasted red peppers, Chimicurri and other tasty things - a combination of things I would never think about putting together which is why I was excited to try it.
This was good to get me out of my typical routine (which for the last few months has been FULL of fresh lemon, parmesan, and garlic… so good!).
This recipe definitely had a lot of steps, but wasn’t difficult. Getting your mise en place done ahead of time is extremely helpful so I recommend prepping everything before starting to put the roast together. Make your chimichurri (or buy a good store bought version if that’s more your style, no shame in that if that’s what works for you). Get your spice mixture together, and then lay everything else out so it’s at hand and ready to go; your olives, peppers, capicola, breadcrumbs, and eggs (if using).
I made the chimichuri in the recipe below with a slight variation. I didn’t have any fresh oregano but could get fresh cilantro and parsley from the farmers market so I used that combination. I also made 2/3 of the recipe as printed and there was still plenty of it.
I do think a really good cut of pork is critical to the best final product. I bought a gorgeous 3.3 lb (I went slightly smaller than the recipe called for without any issues) center cut pork loin from my favorite butcher (Louise Earl Butcher for those in Grand Rapids, Matt is the best!). This roast was gorgeous! It had a beautifully thick cap of fat which roasted up so tasty. The recipe says to not trim this fat cap, but I did end up trimming a little from mine because it was so thick to start. It did not detract from the finished roast, there was still an ample amount of fat.
The most challenging/technical part of the recipe was cutting the roast open so that I could stuff it. I watched a video which helped. It’s important to have a good sharp knife, and to go slow. This was the first time I had done this and it turned out fine.
Once that step was done the rest was pretty easy. Just start layering everything, starting with the spice mixture and chimichuri, then the capicaola that you cover with the festive combination of green olives (I used castelvetrano olives) and roasted red peppers (I roasted my own, but jarred are easy and delicious. I ended up roasting two large red bell peppers and probably used just a little over half of this in the roast).
Roll it up and tie it tightly with butchers twine to keep everything in place. Place the finished product on a wire rack over a baking sheet and into the oven. I think this could all easily be done in advance, the day prior if desired. I don’t see why it would be a problem to refrigerate at this point if you want to make it easy on yourself the day you’ll be serving this.
I ended up baking the roast for a total of 1 hour and 28 minutes (not the 1.5-2 hours as stated in the recipe, but I did have a slightly smaller roast) - it came in at just over 135 degrees, a little over 140 degrees in a few spots, so probably could have come out a minute or two earlier, but I don’t think it was a big deal, it was not overcooked or dry at all. I let it rest about 15-20 minutes before slicing and it was perfect. The nice thing about something like this is that the timing isn’t so so crucial. It can sit and rest anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour, so you have a lot of flexibility.
I served the roast with a Celery Root salad with Brown Butter, Oranges, Dates, and Almonds from Joshua McFadden’s Six Seasons (one of my all time favorite cookbooks!), as well as some fresh sourdough bread that I baked earlier that morning. It was a perfect combination.
Final verdict? This was amazing. I couldn’t have picked a better recipe for our party. It was beautiful, smelled amazing while roasting, and was one of the best tasting things I have made all year. I will definitely be making it again. The fat cap was crispy and fatty and basted the entire roast. The filling was perfect, an amazing combination of flavors as well as some texture differences.
Highly recommended for your next party!
Stuffed Pork Loin with Chimichurri
From 177 Milk Street
Ingredients
For the Chimichurri:
3 cups lightly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/3 to 1/2 cup lightly packed fresh oregano
7 medium garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
3/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 cup (6 ounces) extra-virgin olive oil
For the Roast:
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons packed light brown sugar
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
4 -pound boneless center-cut pork loin
6 ounces thinly sliced capicola or mortadella
1/2 cup pitted green olives, roughly chopped
1 1/2 cups drained roasted red peppers, patted dry and torn into large pieces
1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
3 hard-cooked large eggs, peeled and halved crosswise (optional in my opinion, I did without and it was just fine)
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Flaky sea salt, to serve (optional)
Directions
To prepare the Chimichurri: in a food processor, combine the parsley, oregano, garlic, cumin, coriander, pepper flakes, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Process until finely chopped, 30 to 45 seconds. Scrape the bowl, add the vinegar and oil, then process until as smooth as possible, 45 to 60 seconds. Measure ¼ cup of the chimichurri into a small bowl and set aside; transfer the remainder to a serving bowl; cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Heat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the lower-middle position. Line a rimmed baking sheet with extra-wide foil and a fit with a wire rack.
To prepare the roast: in a small bowl, stir together the cumin, coriander, brown sugar, 3½ teaspoons salt and 1½ teaspoons pepper. Set aside. Heat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the lower-middle position. Line a rimmed baking sheet with extra-wide foil and a fit with a wire rack. To prepare the roast, in a small bowl, stir together the cumin, coriander, brown sugar, 3½ teaspoons salt and 1½ teaspoons pepper. Set aside.
Cut eight 24-inch lengths of kitchen twine. Place the roast fat side down on a cutting board, perpendicular to the counter's edge. With a sharp boning or carving knife, cut along the length of the roast, down its center, stopping about ½ inch from the bottom. Starting at the base of the cut and with the knife blade held as parallel as possible to the cutting board, slice along the length of the roast, unrolling the meat with your free hand as you go. Continue cutting and unrolling the meat until the half is a flat, fairly even surface ½ to ¾ inch thick. Rotate the roast 180° and repeat with the second side. If there are areas that are slightly too thick, use a meat mallet to pound those areas to the same thickness.
Season the pork on both sides with the spice mixture. Place the meat fat side down and with a short side nearest you. Spread the reserved ¼ cup chimichurri evenly on the meat. Shingle on the capicola slices, covering the entire surface, then sprinkle evenly with the olives. Lay the red peppers on top, tearing as needed to cover the entire surface. Sprinkle evenly with the panko. Place the egg halves cut sides down in a row about 3 inches from the bottom edge. Lift the bottom edge over the eggs and continue rolling the meat into a tight cylinder. Position the cylinder seam side down and tie at even intervals with the twine, then snip off excess twine. If any bits of filling fall out, simply tuck them back in. Brush the roast on all sides with the oil.
Transfer the roast fat side up to the prepared baking sheet. Bake until the top is nicely browned and center of the roast reaches 135°F, 1½ to 2 hours. Let rest on the wire rack for 30 to 60 minutes. Remove the chimichurri from the refrigerator about 30 minutes before serving. Cut the roast into ½-inch-thick slices, removing the twine as you go. Arrange the slices on a platter, sprinkle with flaky salt (if using) and serve with chimichurri.
Tip: Don't trim the fat off the pork loin. The fat cap lends richness to an otherwise lean cut and gives the roast an appealing burnished-brown appearance. Don't rush when butterflying the pork loin. Short, small cuts allow for the best control so you can maintain an even slice and adjust as you go. Don't worry if the surface of the butterflied meat is not perfectly flat or even; it won't matter in the finished dish.