Gina's Stuffed Pork

My sister Gina has this delicious recipe, most would deem a comfort food. This dish is best served with veggies and rice, but is already chock full of carbs and veggies so you may want to make a traditional garden salad instead. By the time you finish this dish you will have a whole pork loin stuffed with spinach and bread stuffing. It is so yummy!

This recipe will feed about 7 (depending on the size of the pork you buy)



What you will need:

1 whole Loin of Pork (about 3lbs)

1 bag Frozen or 4 bags of fresh Spinach

1 bag of Peppridge Farm Chicken or Pork flavored stuffing (any kind will do)

1 can of College Inn Low sodium chicken broth

3 Celery Stalks

1 stick of butter

1 whole onion (medium sized)

6 cloves of garlic

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

1 large bowl

Roasting Pan

Cooking string

2 Large Skillets

Wine Recommendation: Cakebread Cellars 'Napa Valley' Sauvignon Blanc 2006

Preparation Time: 10 - 15 minutes

Mince the onions, finely chop the celery for the stuffing. Set to the side. Chop the garlic as you like, either chunky or minced. That will be used for the Spinach. For your Loin of Pork, remove from the package and make an incision through the center so that you create a pocket, do not cut through the entire Loin, only about 3/4 of the way, starting the incision about 1/2 an inch from the end so a true pocket can be formed. I usually do this on a cutting board. Once that cut has been completed set to the side. Pre heat your oven to 425 degrees

Ok let's get cooking:

In one large skillet set your heat to medium and throw in your stick of butter, at the same time start heating your other skillet, lining that skillet with olive oil.

Once the butter has melted, throw in your minced onions and chopped celery. In the other skillet you should also be ready to throw in your garlic. Both will start to sizzle sizzle in about 4 minutes! Once you hear the sizzle on the skillet with garlic, throw in your spinach, either frozen or raw, and place a cover on top of the skillet so that the spinach will wilt. In your other skillet the onions and the celery should be soft enough and you can now add the can of chicken broth and the actual stuffing, cover that as well. You should be stirring each skillet occasionally. Add salt and pepper for taste on to both skillets.

After about 15 minutes the spinach should be done. After about 20 minutes, your stuffing should be done. In a large bowl combine both the spinach and the stuffing together. Mix well. Let this mixture cool down so that you can work easier with it, about 8 minutes.

Time to stuff the pork! Take your mixture and start stuffing inside of the incision area on the pork. Press down well so that it is packed together in there, make sure it is not seeping out the sides too much.

Tip - If there is any left over stuffing (all of it won't fit inside the pork), freeze it for filling in chicken or any other type of meat later in the week.

Take your cooking string and start closing up your pork. Depending on what size the pork is will depend on how much string you will need. Rub olive oil, salt and pepper all over the pork (top and bottom) once you have tied it up securely. Spray non stick spray in the roasting pan. Now place in your roasting pan. Do not cover.

The Pork is going to sear inside the oven for about 20 minutes, that's why we preheated the oven so high. After this time, bring the temp down to 375 degrees, add in about 1/2 cup of chicken broth and you can now cover the pork and let cook for about 1/2 an hour per lb. So in this case with a 3lb pork, you would cook for 2 hours.

You should check your pork occasionally to make sure there is enough moisture in the pan for cooking, if there isn't natural moisture being formed, add in a 1/2 cup of broth as needed.

Once cooked, remove from pan (onto a cutting board is best). Remove the string and start slicing, about a 1/2 an inch thick, ready to serve!

Bon Apetito!