Is it just me, or are you all getting pretty sick of chicken and beef? If I’ve learned anything this quarantine, it’s that I get preeettyy tired of the same old dinner rotations. It’s hard to think of something different for dinner, every single night. I’ve started to make veal and pork a lot more, and this quickly is becoming one of my favorite things to make. Anything that has a filling is so versatile, because you can keep the same recipe and just switch up the inside with what you have in the fridge. You could also use the filling to jazz up chicken breasts (because let’s be real, chicken needs some jazzing).
This starts by butterflying the tenderloin, which I had my butcher (my boyfriend) do. You can have your actual butcher do this for you, or you can take this opportunity to work on your knife skills! It’s a pretty simple thing to do, you just have to make sure you’re cutting in the correct spots. Butterflying a chicken breast is a little easier since it’s much smaller. Once you’ve mastered that technique, you can butterfly anything!
Below are some step by step pictures, but YouTubing it is another option!
After your pork is ready, prepare the filling, lay it on top, and roll!
The trick to getting nice color on the pork is to sear it in a cast iron (or oven-safe pan) until it gets browned, add the chicken broth, and then finish cooking in the oven. This allows the pork to get brown, but also ensures it’s fully cooked, and the broth will help create a nice jus.
Once it’s cooked, let it cool a few minutes before slicing into it, so you get nice even cuts. The filling looks so beautiful once it’s cut, it’s a showstopper!
Stuffed Pork Tenderloin
Equipment
- Kitchen twine (toothpicks can work too), 5 or 6 pieces cut into 6” length
Ingredients
- 1 lb pork tenderloin
- ¾ cup of fresh spinach or 1 whole 5 oz bag/or frozen would work too
- ½ cup chopped sun dried tomatoes roughly chopped
- 2 Tablespoons of lightly toasted pine nuts *See note
- 1 garlic clove finely chopped
- ¼ cup of grated Pecorino or Parmesan
- ¼ cup of shredded mozzarella
- ¼ cup of chicken broth
- 4 Tablespoons of olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Butterfly the pork: On a steady cutting board using a sharp non-serrated knife, gently start from the top of the tenderloin, making a cut on the lower third portion of the pork, inserting your knife about all the way, but not breaking through on the other side. As you cut, it will start to unfold into a bigger piece. One side (the left) should look thicker than the right. Again, start from the top and gently run your knife down again, as the second half unfolds, and you’re left with a nice thin piece of pork (You can also ask your butcher to do this!!) *See pictures.
- Once your meat is cut, in a medium sized skillet, drizzle about 2 table spoons of the olive oil. Sauté the spinach for a few minutes until it wilts little bit. Add in the sun dried tomatoes and cook together another 5 minutes until spinach is completely wilted and mixed with the sun dried tomatoes. Take off the heat and let cool for a few minutes.
- Once your mixture is cooled, add in your pine nuts, mozzarella, Pecorino, garlic and pepper. Taste the mixture at this point to see if it needs salt (I actually didn’t salt my spinach mixture!). Mix until completely combined.
- Time to roll up! Spread your mixture evenly on the pork, leaving only about a 1/2” border around. Starting from the part that’s closest to you, slowly roll the tenderloin, tucking in all of the filling as you roll. To ensure the filling doesn’t fall out as it cooks, tie the pork using the kitchen twine. You want a piece of twine every 3” or so.
- Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Using either a cast iron skillet or oven-safe heavy bottom pan, pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil into it and heat on medium. Brown the pork on each side. Add in the chicken broth to deglaze the pan, and move the pan into the oven. Cook about 25 minutes, or until pork hits 145 degrees. Let the pork rest for a few minutes before slicing.
