Again we go to the
La Cucina Italiana site. Arrosto di Maiale al Marsala, Roast Pork with Marsala. Another delicious dinner. The sauce was quite good. I was planning on making roasted potatoes but I was reading the reviews on the site for the recipe and everyone was commenting on how good the sauce was with mashed potatoes. If you make this trust me and make mashed potatoes. I did not have nor could I find dried chestnuts. I found the pre-cooked and peeled variety at the store.
Ingredients -
1 (2-pound) boneless pork loin roast
Fine sea salt
2 (1/4-inch-thick) slices flat pancetta or slab bacon, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick strips
4 bay leaves, preferably fresh
1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/4 cups dry Marsala wine
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1 cup beef broth
Freshly ground black pepper
Method -
Rinse chestnuts, then place in a medium bowl; add water to cover by 3 inches. Soak at room temperature, 8 hours or overnight.
Heat oven to 325º with rack in middle.
Season pork all over with 1/4 teaspoon salt. With a paring knife, make about 25 incisions all over pork and fill with pancetta strips. Tie loin at 1-inch intervals with string, tying bay leaves between meat and string.
Place 1/4 cup flour on a baking sheet; roll pork in flour to coat.
Heat oil in a 5- to 7-quart Dutch oven or wide heavy pot with lid over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Brown pork on all sides, 10 to 15 minutes total. Remove from heat.
In a large saucepan, whisk together remaining 1/4 cup flour and wine over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook, whisking often, until mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Add milk, broth, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Gently simmer, whisking occasionally, until sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, 5 to 7 minutes.
Transfer sauce to pan with pork. Drain and add chestnuts. Cover pan tightly with aluminum foil and lid. Roast, basting pork once halfway through, recovering with foil and lid, until thermometer inserted 2 inches into meat registers 150°, 1 to 1 1/4 hours.
Remove pork from oven and let rest in pan 15 minutes before serving.
The side dish was Fennel with
Parmesan. The recipe can be found on Academia Barilla. I like this dish but let's just say not everyone is a fennel fan!
Ingredients -
1 lb fennel
2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
¼ cup butter
salt to taste
Method -
Bring a pot of water to a boil.
Meanwhile, wash and trim the fennel, by removing the tough outer leaves.
When the water begins to boil, add salt and the fennel.
Cook for about ten minutes.
Then, remove and let cool. Once cool, cut into thick slices.
Meanwhile, heat the oven and grease a baking dish with butter. Melt the remaining butter in a frying pan.
Then, alternate layers of fennel sprinkled with Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and a little butter in the baking dish until you have used all the ingredients.
Bake the dish at 375° F and broil the fennel for 20 minutes.
What did we have for dinner 3 years ago?
