Christmas Porchetta

Christmas Porcheta is a traditional Italian meat served during the holidays. Typically, porchetta is pork roast that is deboned, trimmed and stuffed with fennel and other herbs, then coated in rosemary, salt and pepper. I like to butterfly some nice pork loins, pound them flat, and stuff them with nice Italian fennel sausage and Duxelle (French mushroom pate.)

What I love about this dish is that it combines two styles of cooking, French and Italian, and it serves as a very hearty holiday meal. If you are like me, I really trying to find new ways to combine familiar things in an amazing creation. In this case, it is combining Duxelle, which is a French mushroom spread (similar to a mushroom pate) and porchetta, a traditional Italian pork dish. The combination of these two flavors is a match made in culinary heaven.

Porchetta Ingredients:

1 large pork loin

1 lb. of ground sweet Italian sausage (preferably with fennel)

1/4 cup of olive oil

1/4 cup rosemary (preferably fresh)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

3 to 4 feet of butchers twine

Duxelle Ingredients

8 ounces of Porcini mushrooms, cleaned and finely chopped

8 ounces of oyster mushrooms, cleaned and finely chopped

8 ounces of shitake mushrooms, cleaned and finely chopped

1 medium diced shallot

1 clove of diced garlic

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup of dry vermouth

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme (or 1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 old kitchen towel

Duxelle Cooking Instructions:

1. Clean and finely chop the mushrooms

2. Place all of the mushrooms into the towel, twist the top shut and squeeze as much of the liquid from the mushrooms as possible

3. In a large skillet, melt half of the butter and add shallots

4. Add garlic once the shallots start to turn translucent

5. Add mushrooms and thyme, cook them until the remaining released water evaporates (approximately 3 to 5 mins)

6. Add the remaining butter and vermouth and cook until vermouth evaporates

7. Salt and pepper to taste

8. Let cool

Porchetta Stuffing Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, break up the sweet Italian sausage

2. Add Duxelle, after it has cooled to room temperature

3. Mix thoroughly by hand

4. Refrigerate final mixture

Build Porchetta:

1. Butterfly the pork tenderloin so it will lay flat

2. Take a cutting board, cover in plastic wrap, lay the pork on top and cover the pork in plastic wrap

3. Pound the tenderloin to an average thickness of around 1/2 inch

4. Cover the surface of the pork loin with the stuffing mixture

5. Choose the side closest to you, the pork loin should be a generally square shape at this point, and begin to roll it up. When you are done, it should look like a pinwheel on the end

6. Use the butchers twine to tie up the stuffed pork from end to end and side to side

7. Cover the stuffed pork loin in rosemary, salt and pepper

8. Let it sit overnight

Finished Christmas Porchetta

Porchetta cooking instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit

2. Place stuffed pork loin into baking pan covered with baking spray

3. Cook the stuffed pork loin for 145 minutes or until internal temperature is 160.

Serve with a Brown Sauce:

Brown Sauce ingredients

1 teaspoon of freshly ground nutmeg

1/4 cup of white wine (your favorite cooking wine)

1/4 cup of corn starch or arrowroot, combine to make a paste

all leftover pork pan drippings from roasting

1 teaspoon pork base or bouillon

1/4 stick of butter

1/2 cup of water

Brown Sauce Preparation:

1. In a skillet, combine the pan drippings with pork base and water and let it simmer

2. Add the wine, reduce the mixture by a 1/4

3. Use corn starch or arrowroot paste to thicken the sauce

4. Add butter to smooth out the consistency of the sauce

5. Finish with a little fresh ground nutmeg on the top of the sauce

To Serve the Porchetta:

Slice a cross section so you can see the spiral, lay flat on the plate and cover with the sauce.

Buon Appetito!