Tuesday, December 10, 2013

BALTHAZAR'S ROAST



It was putting out the Sicilian crib, with both Sicilian and more traditional figurines, which I was given some years ago that did it: I decided I wanted some eastern flavour in my weekend cooking and this is what I came up with:



Ask your butcher for a 500 gr piece of lonza [pork loin] in butcher's netting.  When you get it home, rub it all over as best you can with a cut clove of garlic, some seasoning and some mixed fresh herbs such as thyme and sage - especially thyme. [An Italian butcher will probably do this for you, using his own mixture - trust him!]  Put it in a dish and marinate it in 2 glasses of white wine and 1 tablsp culinary rosewater in the fridge overnight.

About an hour before you want to serve it, put it in a small, foil-lined roasting pan with the marinade and roast for 45 minutes at 180 C. 

Five minutes or so before the end of this time, put 2 tablesp pomegranate molasses and 200 gr frozen mirtilli [which are not blueberries or cranberries as some dictionaries suggest but whortleberries] in a small pan over a low heat. Stir in a few pomegranate seeds and cook, stirring, until the mixture starts to bubble. Now cook and stir the mixture for a further minute. When the 45 mins for the roast are up, pour the mixture over it and cook at 150 C for a further 5 mins.

Let the roast stand for a few minutes, then cut the net off, slice the roast and serve with the mirtilli and their sauce. Sprinkle a few more pomegranate seeds over the slices if you like.

I suggest serving this with herb-roasted potatoes, which can go in the oven at the same time as the roast.

I have no idea whether Balthazar might have eaten pork, by the way!

1 comment:

Lee said...

That would surely melt in the mouth!

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