Stuffed Pork Loin and Green Beans salad

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Hi guys, I don’t know about you but the more I learn about cooking and techniques, the more I find it difficult to be happy eating outside or just buying food. This week I decided to make this stuffed pork loin and I headed to ‘whole foods’ to buy my pork. I asked the guy if he could open- flat the loin because I wanted to stuff it. He said, …“Sure I can”. So I trusted his word, after all it is his profession…so he should know how to cut meat. Right? He was very nice and polite, but when I got home I saw that he only cut it in half. Oh Boy! I was angry…if all I wanted was to just cut in half, I would have done it myself. So in the end it didn’t look the way I wanted. But it tasted delicious. Next time I will cut the meat myself. There are videos on Youtube teaching you how to. So if you trust your meat guy and you know he is good doing his job, go ahead and make it easy on yourself. Or you can be crafty and try it with youtube. I know I will. I also made my own apricot Jam, with apricot, sugar, lemon juice, and 2 Thai chilies (I would prefer 1 habanero but that was what I had at home).

Stuffed Pork Loin

Ingredients:

• 9 Dried apricots
• 1 boneless pork loin (2 1/2 pounds) open flat (ask your meat guy)
• Goat cheese or cream cheese
• 1/2 cup of chopped toasted walnuts
• 1 tablespoon of chopped chives
• 1/2 cup of apricot jam
• 1tablespoon of whole grained Dijon mustard (with the seeds)
• 1-tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bring 1 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan. Coarsely chop the dried apricots add apricots to water; return to a boil. Remove from heat; let stand for 20 minutes. Remove apricots using a slotted spoon, and squeeze; reserve liquid. Meanwhile, butterfly pork loin: (or ask your meat guy to do it for you) Pound to an even thickness with a meat mallet if needed. Sprinkle salt and pepper over pork. Mix the chopped walnuts with the goat cheese and the chives, season with salt and pepper.

Spread drained apricots and the cheese mixture over the pork, leaving a 1-inch border on 1 short end. Roll up pork from short end to enclose filling. Tie together with kitchen twine to shape and hold in the filling. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place in a roasting pan, seam side down. Bring reserved soaking liquid, the jam, lemon juice and mustard to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce heat; simmer for 1 minute.

Roast pork for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees, and roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center reaches 138 degrees, about 25 minutes more. Brush with glaze, and roast for 5 minutes more. Transfer pork to a platter; reserve juices in roasting pan. Let rest for 10 minutes. Brush with glaze again.

For the Green beans and Radishes salad

Ingredients:

• 1 lbs. fresh green beans, trimmed.
• 1/2-cup oil
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1-teaspoon salt
• 1/2-teaspoon pepper
• Radishes
• 1 cup Yellow grape tomatoes

Directions:

Prepare a large stockpot by filling it with water and bring to a boil, covering with a lid. Do not add salt, as this will draw water out of the beans. Fill a large bowl with ice water about one half full. Drop the prepared beans into the rapidly boiling water and cover. After 3 minutes, remove them with a large straining spoon into a large bowl of ice water. Let them cool down and stop the cooking process for about 5 minutes, stirring a little. Cut the grape tomatoes and radishes in half. Mix the vinaigrette and pour over the salad.

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