Stuffed Pork Loin with Prunes & Porcini

Yield 8-10
RECIPE Ingredients
  • 1 Berkshire Pork Boneless Loin, about 6 lbs.
  • 2 cups pitted prunes
  • 1 cup Armagnac
  • 1 cup porcini mushrooms, fresh or flash frozen
  • Duck Fat, as needed
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 2 tablespoons porcini powder
  • 2 tablespoons caraway seeds
  • 1/2 cup Veal Demi-Glace, dissolved in 1 cup water
  • 2 tablespoons butter
Recipe notes
In this recipe, pork loin is stuffed with Armagnac-soaked prunes and porcini mushrooms then rubbed in spices and roasted for a taste of Southwest France.
RECIPE Preparation
  1. Soak prunes in Armagnac overnight. Drain, reserve soaking liquid.
  2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
  3. In a medium pan over medium-high heat, melt a generous spoon of duck fat. Saute the porcini mushrooms (if using flash frozen, add them to the pan directly from the freezer) until golden brown and cooked through but not mushy.
  4. Make a long incision down the length of the center of the loin. Stuff incision with soaked prunes and porcini mushrooms. Reshape roast and tie with butcher's twine.
  5. Rub a few spoonfuls of room temperature duck fat over the roast. In a small bowl, mix together caraway seeds and porcini powder. Season roast with salt & pepper then rub allover with spice mixture.
  6. Place fat side up on a rack in a roasting pan. Roast, basting occasionally with pan juices mixed with Armagnac from the soaked prunes, for about 20 minutes a pound, until the internal temperature reaches 140 degrees F. Let rest for 10 minutes before removing the twine and slicing. (Note: There will be about 5 degrees of residual cooking after removing from the oven.)
  7. While the roast is resting, make the sauce. Put the roasting pan over medium flame. Add reserved prune-soaking liquid and demi-glace mixture, scraping up any meaty bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until thickened then stir in the butter.
  8. Spoon each slice with pan-sauce. Serve with duck fat roasted potatoes and sauteed seasonal greens.