Apricot Pork Loin Pinwheel Roast

[quedog]

Roast Ingredients: 2 lb pork loin roast 1/2 cup brown sugar 3 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 cup chopped apricots 1/4 cup chopped craisins 1/2 cup chopped pistachios 2 tsp ground ginger 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper 1/4 tsp cinnamon Dash of ground cloves (tiny dash, like 1/16 tsp, it is easy to get too much) 1 TSP honey 1/2 cup apricot nectar Glaze Ingredients: 1/2 cup apricot preserves 2 Tbs butter 2 Tbs apricot nectar Directions: 1. Start a fire in your KK, let the dome temperature get up to the 350 - 400 degree range and heat soak while you prepare the roast. The roast will cook with direct heat on the main grate. 2. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, garlic, ginger, salt, pepper, cinnamon, and cloves, apricots, craisins and pistachios, mix well. 3. Add enough honey to make the mixture hold together. 4. Trim excess fat from the roast. Using a long thin slicing knife spiral cut the roast about 1/2 to 3/4" thick, cut it like you are unrolling paper towels. With my knife it is easiest to lay the knife handle on the cutting board and hold it so that the blade is parallel to the board surface. Like this:

5. Continue peeling around the roast until the whole thing is flat, then trim it into a rectangle 6. Rub stuffing mixture evenly over flat surface of pork. 7. Roll up pork, beginning with short side (you want the grain of the meat running parallel to the roll direction, so that when you slice the roast you have short meat fibers across the slice, not long meat fibers which follow the shape of the pin-wheeled meat. 8. Tie with string:

9. Pierce pork all over with metal skewer. Brush apricot nectar all over the outside surface of the meat. Let stand 15 minutes and repeat. 10. Place the roast on the main grate. Insert a meat thermometer into thickest part of roast. The roast will be turned several times during the cook so I find it easiest to insert the thermometer into the end of the roast. It doesn't get in the way of turning that way. If you like a little smoke flavor add some wood chips, fruit wood works well with this recipe. 11. With the KK, after the dome temp has stabilized at between 350 and 400 degrees the fire is pretty small. There is enough distance between the main grate and the fire that the roast can cook for 10 - 15 minutes without the side towards the fire getting too brown, even though it is covered in the sugary nectar. Turn the roast a quarter turn every 10 to 15 minutes so that it browns evenly. 12. When the internal temperature of the roast hits 140 degrees it is time to remove it from the grill. It will probably take about an hour depending on the KK temperature. Cover with foil and let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes. The internal temperature will rise a few more degrees during the rest. 13. Meanwhile, in a 2-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in apricot preserves and apricot nectar. Cook and stir 1 minute. Cool slightly. 14. Carefully slice the roast (slices about 1/2" thick):

15. Top the roast slices with the glaze when serving. Note - 140 degrees is below the latest USDA recommendation (145 degrees + 3 minutes rest) as a safe temp for eating pork. To me, the roast will be too dry if you cook it that long. I pull pork loin and tenderloin roasts off the heat at 140 degrees (maybe even 138). If you are interested in reading more about meat food safety this is a good source: http://www.amazingribs.com/tips_and_...ure_guide.html This is my wife's favorite roast, period. The flavor combination of the stuffing and glaze is amazing. Pinwheeling the roast actually goes pretty quickly once you have done it a time or 2. It really helps to have a long thin slicing knife. The most time consuming part of this recipe is chopping all of the garlic, dried fruit and nuts for the stuffing. It is well worth the effort.

[Syzygies]

Re: Apricot Pork Loin Pinwheel Roast

We're going to have to make this. Too good.

A bit of a stretch, but this reminds me vaguely of "cima" a rolled veal breast popular in Genova, Italy. Nice, France and Genova, Italy used to be the same region before the countries of France and Italy emerged, and I learned a very similar dish in French cooking lessons.

But apricots? Yum. Moroccan rocks, they do fruit and meat all the time.

[Saison]

Re: Apricot Pork Loin Pinwheel Roast

Nice.

[Saucier]

I made this.. Awesome.... My loin was about 3lb, took 70 min @ 360f... Beautiful too!

[tony b]

Nice, thanks for posting!