Post by chefkel on May 9, 2007 13:35:24 GMT -5
This is guest worthy!
Roast Pork Loin with Almonds, Garlic & Sherry-Shallot Cream
Serves 6-8
I've broken the cooking process down into a series of simple steps so that you may prepare all of the components ahead of time and assemble the dish quickly at serving time. The recipe serves six to eight. Of course you may serve six portions and keep two for delicious leftovers the next day. Serve with sauteed spinach or green beans and the potatoes of your choice.
INGREDIENTS:
1 pork loin roast on the bone, approximately 5 to 6 pounds
3 garlic cloves, cut into slivers
Salt and pepper
2 cups sliced skin-on almonds
1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
3 tablespoons finely minced garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup minced shallots
1 cup medium dry sherry such as amontillado
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
INSTRUCTIONS:
Instructions: With a small sharp knife make slits in between the bones of the pork roast and slip in slivers of garlic. Sprinkle the roast with salt and pepper and place in a roasting pan, bone side down. Let sit at room temperature while you toast the almonds.
Preheat the oven to 350°. Toast the sliced almonds on a baking sheet for about 7 to 10 minutes. When they are cool enough to handle, break them up with your fingers until they are coarsely chopped or pulse briefly in the processor. Do not let them become too fine. You want crunch, not dust. Combine the crushed almonds with parsley and garlic. Toss with the oil. Put the mixture in a baking pan and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally with a metal spatula. They will become a wonderful golden brown. Set aside until serving time.
Raise the oven temperature to 450°.
Put the pork in the oven and roast for 25 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 400° and continue to cook the roast until a meat thermometer registers 140°, about another 20 minutes. Take the roast out of the oven and let it rest. Cover it with foil to keep it warm.
While the pork roasts, make the sherry shallot cream: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the minced shallots and cook over low heat until they are softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the sherry and simmer briskly over medium heat for a few minutes. Add the cream and simmer again for about 5 minutes to reduce the sauce by about half. The sauce should thicken enough to coat a spoon. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Add the almond crunchies, or picada, to the sherry-shallot cream and heat through.
Transfer the roast to a cutting board. You can slice the roast between the bones into chops, or you can cut the pork off the bones, into one long strip of meat, the loin. (You can gnaw on the bones in the privacy of the kitchen or you may choose to share them with your guests.) Slice the meat so that you have about 2 or 3 nice slices, each about 1/2-inch thick, per person.
Spoon the sauce over the meat. If you have leftovers you can warm the pork very gently over low heat, covered in the sauce. Do not boil or the meat with toughen.
Per serving (with 1/4 cup sauce): 455 calories, 43 g protein, 5 g carbohydrate, 28 g fat (11 g saturated), 157 mg cholesterol, 236 mg sodium, 1 g fiber.
San Franciscan Joyce Goldstein is a restaurateur, consultant and cookbook author. E-mail her at wine@sfchronicle.com.
Roast Pork Loin with Almonds, Garlic & Sherry-Shallot Cream
Serves 6-8
I've broken the cooking process down into a series of simple steps so that you may prepare all of the components ahead of time and assemble the dish quickly at serving time. The recipe serves six to eight. Of course you may serve six portions and keep two for delicious leftovers the next day. Serve with sauteed spinach or green beans and the potatoes of your choice.
INGREDIENTS:
1 pork loin roast on the bone, approximately 5 to 6 pounds
3 garlic cloves, cut into slivers
Salt and pepper
2 cups sliced skin-on almonds
1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
3 tablespoons finely minced garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup minced shallots
1 cup medium dry sherry such as amontillado
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
INSTRUCTIONS:
Instructions: With a small sharp knife make slits in between the bones of the pork roast and slip in slivers of garlic. Sprinkle the roast with salt and pepper and place in a roasting pan, bone side down. Let sit at room temperature while you toast the almonds.
Preheat the oven to 350°. Toast the sliced almonds on a baking sheet for about 7 to 10 minutes. When they are cool enough to handle, break them up with your fingers until they are coarsely chopped or pulse briefly in the processor. Do not let them become too fine. You want crunch, not dust. Combine the crushed almonds with parsley and garlic. Toss with the oil. Put the mixture in a baking pan and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally with a metal spatula. They will become a wonderful golden brown. Set aside until serving time.
Raise the oven temperature to 450°.
Put the pork in the oven and roast for 25 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 400° and continue to cook the roast until a meat thermometer registers 140°, about another 20 minutes. Take the roast out of the oven and let it rest. Cover it with foil to keep it warm.
While the pork roasts, make the sherry shallot cream: Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the minced shallots and cook over low heat until they are softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the sherry and simmer briskly over medium heat for a few minutes. Add the cream and simmer again for about 5 minutes to reduce the sauce by about half. The sauce should thicken enough to coat a spoon. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Add the almond crunchies, or picada, to the sherry-shallot cream and heat through.
Transfer the roast to a cutting board. You can slice the roast between the bones into chops, or you can cut the pork off the bones, into one long strip of meat, the loin. (You can gnaw on the bones in the privacy of the kitchen or you may choose to share them with your guests.) Slice the meat so that you have about 2 or 3 nice slices, each about 1/2-inch thick, per person.
Spoon the sauce over the meat. If you have leftovers you can warm the pork very gently over low heat, covered in the sauce. Do not boil or the meat with toughen.
Per serving (with 1/4 cup sauce): 455 calories, 43 g protein, 5 g carbohydrate, 28 g fat (11 g saturated), 157 mg cholesterol, 236 mg sodium, 1 g fiber.
San Franciscan Joyce Goldstein is a restaurateur, consultant and cookbook author. E-mail her at wine@sfchronicle.com.