Feel the Pounds Comin' On

The lard beast called my name yesterday. I couldn't stand it one more minute and had to have a real meal. Unearthing a pork loin from the freezer I began my mental preparation. Express thawing of the solid beast posed a bit of a challenge, but nothing a sink full of cold water couldn't expedite.

Back flash to Friday night: Brien had steak and I had Portabella mushrooms stuffed with butter cracker crumbs, onion, celery, red bell peppers, butter, garlic, and spices...on the grill. With the leftover stuffing, I filled the pork loin. You know how pork loin can be a little dry, well this did the trick.

I sliced the loin with a fiercely sharp knife almost all the way through, along the long side, leaving just enough in tact to hold it together as one piece. Then I beat it unmercifully with a meat cleaver to flatten it out for rolling. I covered the entire thing with stuffing and rolled it up like a towel (okay I know what you are thinking) and placed it seam side down in a lightly oiled shallow roasting pan. To keep it from unfurling, I tied it in three places with cotton string (didn't have official cooking string so I had to use tobacco baling string...hard telling the fallout from that one!). I rubbed it all over with olive oil, rosemary, garlic, and S&P, then baked it until it hit 160 degrees internal temp (about and hour and 15 min. at 325 degrees)

To round out the whole comfort thing, I made garlic mashed potatoes, with lots of butter and cream, and steamed broccoli tossed with sesame oil, garlic S&P. My failing was not making gravy and I highly recommend not skipping this step as pork loin can always use the addition.

I'm not sure one can eat anything for dinner, from pop tarts to fillet mignon, without a glass of wine and with this meal either a white or a red would have been just fine. I chose a Spanish red called "Red Guitar" from the Navarra winery (2007). The grapes were "old vine" Tempranillo and Garnacha, blended. It was decent and reasonably priced but it was easy to see how the Spaniards can drink wine for lunch and dinner as it wasn't particularly notable or full bodied...it was just pleasing and easy to drink.

Dessert was my favorite (there are so many)...pecan pie and Starbucks with lots of cream. I made an intesting (but shouldn't have been surprising) observation about the pie. Usually I put a lot of nuts in my pecan pie but yesterday I kept to the 1 1/2 cups per the recipe. The result was a creamy, custard-like filling with just the top layer covered with buttery, crunchy pecans. Honestly I think I like it better than the nut-laden version and just possibly it wasn't quite as filling. If you want the recipe let me know and I'll post it...it's my old standby...quick and easy.

I love your comments both good and wicked so keep them coming.