Whisk Wednesdays—Longe de Porc aux Pruneaux (Roast Pork Loin with Prunes)

Pigs, prunes and potatoes. Not very inspiring. But Longe de Porc aux Pruneaux (Roast Pork Loin with Prunes) is tasty…if you like prunes.

First, you butterfly the pork so that you can shimmy all the prunes in the middle. Then you tie up (and curse while tying) the pork with butcher's twine to keep the prunes in place. After searing the pork with the carrots and onions, you roast it in the oven.

Meanwhile, you steep the prunes in Ceylon tea. {I bet you could steep them in all sorts of flavors such as star anise or cardamom.} Sounds crazy, but it's tasty…if you like prunes!

The key to this dish is the sweet and sour reduction called a gastrique. Basically, it's a caramelized sauce of vinegar and sugar. I think any meat tastes better with a sauce, and pork pairs nicely with something a little sweet balanced by the acidity of the vinegar.

After roasting the pork, set it aside and deglaze the pan with some water. Add the pan juices to the gastrique. Taste and season, et violà, you have a delicious roast pork loin with prunes…if you like prunes.

The second part of this course is the puréed potatoes (which should have been puréed celery root, but I forgot about that ingredient when I was at the grocery store and ended up using my baby potatoes which I just smashed, skin and all).

Recipe

Serves 6

For Roast Pork Loin with Prunes:
3-pound boneless pork loin roast, trimmed of excess fat
Salt and fresh ground pepper
1½ pounds prunes, pitted
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 carrot, chopped coarse
1 onion, chopped coarse
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves or ¼ teaspoon dried
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves or ¼ teaspoon dried
1 bay leaf, crushed
2 cloves garlic
Large pinch Ceylon tea
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup vinegar
Small bunch watercress for garnish

For Creamed Celery Root (or Potato) Purée
1¼ pounds celery root (or potatoes)
Salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup crème fraîche or heavy cream (or sour cream)
Freshly ground pepper
You can find the recipe for Longe de Porc aux Pruneaux (Roast Pork Loin with Prunes) and Mousseline de Céleri Rave (Creamed Celery Root Purée) in the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home. To see how the rest of the Whisk Wednesdays group fared with their recipe, click here (or check out the sidebar) and then click on each blogger!

Tasting Notes
The light flavor of pork paired perfectly with the prunes hidden inside…if you like prunes, which I do! The sauce lightly drizzled on top added depth, moisture and sweetness to each bite.

I think next time introducing some apricot into the juice would bring an interesting color to the sauce that would complement the prunes and add some zing. In fact, I may also try combining chopped prunes and apricots to stuff the pork, for the same reasons.

Next Class
• Savarin aux Kiwis et aux Fraises (Rum Savarin with Kiwis and Strawberries) pages 409-410.