Chef notes
This is a great special occasion dish with all the fall flavors we love. Roulades are a cheffy way to serve pork loin with stuffing. I like them because it keeps pork loin from drying out. You can substitute any apples for pears and throw in your favorite herbs and spices.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 8-10 cremini mushrooms, finely diced
- 1/2 onion, finely diced
- 2 ribs celery, finely diced
- 1½ apples peeled, cored and chopped
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1/3 cup hazelnuts, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
- 1 boneless pork loin (3 to 4 pounds)
Preparation
1.Preheat oven to 375 F.
2.To make the stuffing, preheat a large oven safe skillet to high for about 2-3 minutes. Add the butter and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil to the pan until the butter melts and starts to smoke. Sauté the mushrooms for about 2-3 minutes until softened. Stir in onion, celery, apples and cranberries and sauté for another 2 minutes until onions are translucent.
3.Season generously with salt and pepper. Mushrooms should be pretty soft at this point. Stir in breadcrumbs, chicken stock, hazelnuts, cinnamon, brown sugar and thyme and cook for a minute more until flavors combine. Do a final taste and season with salt and pepper. Once you're happy, transfer to large bowl and cool until ready to stuff into pork roulade.
4.To prepare the pork loin, remove the silver skin and trim off any fat or connective tissue.
5.Lay the pork lion on a flat, long side pointing north to south. Place your knife flat parallel to the cutting board start slicing into the loin about 3/4-inch off the board as you get to 3/4-inch to the end, roll the pork loin away from the cut side. This will open the pork loin flattening it out into a rectangle. Continue until you have a rectangular sheet of pork.
6.Season the pork generously with salt and pepper. Spread the filling over the entire butterflied pork loin leaving a 1-inch gap on the top edge. Roll tightly from the bottom up creating an even roll as you roll up. Tie the roll with 5 evenly spaced knots across the roulade. Season the exterior of the roll with salt and pepper.
7.Heat the same skillet over high and add the remaining olive oil. Once the oil starts to smoke, sear the roulade until the entire roll is brown, about 5 to 8 minutes. Place the roll in the oven and roast for about 8 to 10 minutes until the internal temperature is 165 F.
8.Remove from the oven, transfer to a cutting board to rest for about 5 minutes. Slice into 1-inch-wide pieces and serve with pan drippings.
