Pork Loin with Prosciutto and Oregano

 

We are well into the busy working week. Which means a routine of school buses and shopping, homework and laundry. No late Friday night with a second glass of red wine when the kids have gone to bed. No Saturday morning with the kids at Little Athletics then lazy book reading in the afternoon. No Sunday marathon of Brunch@Bobby's wishing I had a great stack of Orange Ricotta Pancakes with Caramelized Fig and Pistachio Compote to faceplant into. No, those days are over... at least for another two days *fake crying*. But, just because it's mid-week, doesn't mean we can't have something delicious for dinner. So it's a mid-week special of Pork Loin with Prosciutto and Oregano. I keep going to type Pork Lion... now that would make a mid-week "special".



Pork Loin with Prosciutto and Oregano
slightly adapted from Nigella Lawson's Nigellissima
Serves 8-10

1.5kg boneless and rindless loin of pork, (Optional: If you, like you can keep the rind and make some crackling. I say optional, but I mean optional for you. It's not an option for me. If my husband saw me throwing that rind away, I would never hear the end of it.)
2 cloves garlic, minced
few sprigs dried oregano
100g prosciutto, thinly sliced
1/3 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1 onion, unpeeled thickly sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons dry white vermouth
4 tablespoons boiling water

Make the Cracklng: (optional)
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Cut any excess fat away from the back of the rind. Lay the rind on a wire rack over a baking tray. Sprinkle it with some salt and leave for as long as you can, uncovered, up to a day in the fridge (this will dry the skin out and give you really crispy crackling). When ready to roast, use some paper towel to wipe any excess salt and moisture off the skin, place it in the oven and roast for about 30 minutes. These are nice served with pre-dinner drinks before the main course.

Make the Pork Loin:

Open up the loin of pork, ready for stuffing, cut through the thick part of the loin all the way down so that you can open it out like a book. This will give you a large, even surface area to lay the filling on.

Spread the minced garlic all over the meat. Then take the dried blossoms from a few sprigs of oregano and crush them over the top too.

Lay the pieces of prosciutto horizontally over the pork loin, this way it will roll up more easily as the roll will follow the long length of the ham slices.

Sprinkle the chilli flakes over the prosciutto and then roll up the loin, starting from the open-ended side, keeping as tight a roll as you can. Secure the meat with string at 3-4cm intervals, knotting the lengths of string firmly.

Put the onion into the bottom of a roasting tin to make the flavour-platform for the pork and sit the loin on top and drizzle with the oil.

Cook for 1 1/4 hours, when it’s cooked, the juices must run clear when you put a skewer into the centre and a meat thermometer should read 71 degrees C.

Transfer the tin to a heatproof kitchen surface, immediately pour the vermouth and boiling water into the tin and scrape all around the bottom of the tin to make an instant gravy with all the stuck-on bits, onion and meat juices. You can let the meat rest in this sauce for 15 minutes or so.

When you are ready to slice the pork, remove it to a board and warm the gravy (removing the onion bits) if it’s cooled. Cut the meat into approximately 2cm slices, or in other words, thick enough for the slices to keep their shape and hold the filling. This size joint should give you 10 good slices plus the misshapen end-pieces.

Arrange the slices on a bed of rocket with a little of the the gravy poured over them and the rest of the gravy served separately in a little jug along side.