A new look at cooking and home decorating...with an attempt to add more greens to the plate, more vegetarian options & hopefully lots of new ideas to explore

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Spit-Roasted Tuscan style pork (Arista)


Arista, from the Tuscan region of Italy. Traditionally, a pork loin cooked on a spit of an old wood-burning oven. Today, pork loin is a very inexpensive cut of meat to buy and I am always surprised by how few cookbooks have recipes for it. This recipe uses pork with no bone. If you have ever had “dry like sawdust” pork, I can assure you that this is very much the opposite.

About 41/2 pounds pork loin, no bone
9 medium cloves of garlic, peeled and cut into thin slivers

Making slits all over the meat with your knife, insert the garlic into the slits

Into a mini food processor place-
2 Teaspoons kosher salt
Zest of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon ground pepper
8 fresh sage leaves
3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme (use leaves only, not stems)
1 small fresh sprig of rosemary (leaves only no stems)
3 Tablespoons olive oil

Pulse the processor 7 or 8 times or until you have a liquid paste. Pour and rub the past all over the meat. Every 1”-1 1/2” tie the meat with kitchen twine. Insert the spit, and place the pork in the oven. Turn on your rotisserie option, then cook the pork for about 90 minutes or until pork reaches about 145 degrees. Let pork rest before carving very thin slices.

And It’s Absolutely Not Italian Sauce-
*Perhaps its very un-Tuscan, and I should not be revealing this to you, but to finish the dish I reduce about 1 cup of port down by at least half, add in the pan juices, about a tablespoon of demi-glaze, a bit of water and simmer. To finish the quick sauce I add a bit of butter. Ohhh, OK every Italian in the world is now rolling around with laughter, I know that is a “French” style sauce, but hey, the French make great sauces…

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