I've made so many stuffed pork tenderloins over the years. And here I go, sharing another version. I was actually going to make another one for this challenge, but couldn't find one that wasn't pre-seasoned already, so I bought a small pork loin roast and then turned it into a Roulade.
The challenge this week for Sunday Funday was for a "Small gathering holiday main course." Holiday recipes for one, two, or three, or even four, but not a crowd! Not everyone has a big family or friend group to share a holiday meal with, so I'd like us to highlight some recipes for a more intimate meal that is still special. Our hostess this week is Stacy Livingston Rushton of Food Lust People Love
Challenge accepted, especially when I can feature my favorite protein, pork.
As I said, I was all set to make a stuffed pork tenderloin, but could not find one that wasn't already pre-seasoned. So I picked up a small pork loin roast and cut it into a roulade.
Honestly, a pork loin roast is the perfect size for a small gathering —well, for a couple of people, anyway. This should serve up to 4 people. As I said, I've made several versions of stuffed tenderloins over the years. I've stuffed them with apples, cranberries, and stuffing, and even with a bunch of herbs. And they were all good.
I was all ready to do another tenderloin for this challenge, but I couldn't find one, so I got a small pork loin.
And gosh, was it good.
I decided to stuff the pork loin after cutting it into a roulade, with my wild rice stuffing. This is kind of an all-in-one meal. The stuffing is the carb; the pork is the protein; and I made glazed carrots as the veggie side. Honestly, they all go so well together. It all looks festive, and they taste amazing together. I ended up with lots of stuffing after preparing the roast, so I served it alongside.
I butterflied the loin, or rather, OK, so it was a roulade. Here are a bunch of pictures of the process. What is a roulade, you ask? Well, let me try to explain. Basically, it's a version of butterflying a cut of meat. You want the meat to be approximately the same thickness throughout. I detail how to do it here, with better pictures. You cut into it about a third of the way through, cut almost to the end (side), then take the middle portion and cut it almost through again. Here are the pictures of how I did it.
After all the cuts, I flattened it out a bit.
I then proceeded to load up the pork roast with the cooled stuffing, and then rolled it up as I was stuffing it.
After it's stuffed, roll it up jelly-roll style and secure it with a couple of toothpicks or wrap it with some butcher twine. I didn't have any twine handy, so I used a couple of toothpicks to secure it.
The next step is browning the roast. And there are two separate roasts here, mainly because I neglected to take pictures of the process during the first roast, so I had to redo it, and umm, I now have lots of meals in my freezer, ready to take out, heat, and eat. And since I happen to love Pork, this is not a hardship for me at all.
The first one I made, along with the end bit I cut off to make the roast a little more even.
After I took it out of the oven, I let it rest for a few minutes. I cut into it, and I don't know if you can see how moist the meat was. But it was, and so tender, not to mention very flavourful.
You may have noticed, I didn't say anything about seasoning. I try to cook salt-free as much as possible, and honestly, the stuffing seasoned the roast nicely, so I didn't feel it needed anything extra.
I cooked up the wild rice mix, set it aside to cool, while I got the rest of the stuffing together. I didn't add any craisins to this mix, but I did use some canned mushrooms because the ones I had in the fridge had passed their use-by date. And I did add some of my own homemade stock to it as well.
Once it was all cooled and ready to go, I stuffed the loin roast and used toothpicks to close it. I would have tied it, but I didn't have any string.
It kinda looks like a meat jelly roll at this point.
I then browned it in a cast-iron pan before putting it into a 425-degree oven to finish cooking. It didn't take long. Just 45 minutes, and while it was in the oven cooking, I prepared the carrots. I also checked the roast's temperature when I pulled it out of the oven, and it was about 165 degrees. I always temperature check my meat. I know that you can eat the meat at 145 degrees, but I'm old school and prefer it cooked to a higher temperature, in this case 165 degrees.
Once I took the roast out of the oven, I put it on a plate to rest, deglazed the pan with some water, and made a gravy. You just can't waste all that goodness in the pan. If I'd thought of it, I would probably have deglazed it with some chicken stock, but it still tasted amazing.
I cooked the carrots to fork-tender, melted a tablespoon of butter in a pan, added another tablespoon of sugar and 1/4 cup of water, stirred until the sugar dissolved, then added the cooked carrots.
My finished plate, which looks a touch monochromatic, but it sure tasted good. Best of all, I've now got several meals in the freezer for the future.
Take a look at some of the other meals my fellow Sunday Funday bloggers made:
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