Sunday, January 20, 2008

Pancetta and Garlic Encrusted Pork Loin

I watched Giada DiLaurentiis make something similar to this dish on the Food Network. Unfortunately my short attention span got the best of me and I didn't watch long enough to get the whole recipe. So I thought it would be fun to get some pancetta and pork loin and try to improvise the recipe. Here are the results!

Pancetta and Garlic-Encrusted Pork Loin

1 pork loin, about a couple of pounds worth (Costco sells a "two-pack" of loins, each about a foot long; you can use just one of those)
8-9 slices of pancetta
1 garlic bulb, minced
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. rosemary
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grab the pork loin and cover it in olive oil. Use a brush if you have it; otherwise just pour it over the loin with a spoon and coat it evenly with your hands. Spread the minced garlic all over the loin. Rub it, knead it, spread it, whatever, so long as the whole thing is covered in garlic. Spread the thyme and rosemary evenly on both sides of the loin. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Coat a cooking pan in a layer of oil, and place the loin in a cooking pan. Dip each slice of pancetta in olive oil, then lay it on top of the loin. Do this from front to back until you've covered the entire top of the loin in delicious bacon. Cover the pan and put it in the oven for 30-60 minutes, depending on the heat of the oven. Check on the loin periodically with a meat thermometer. When the temp reaches 155 degrees, you're done.

You can serve this straight or with a nice dijon mustard wine sauce.

2 comments:

David Manch said...

Geez, how 'bout the fat content of that one!!! I don't know about the Garlic encrusted Pork Loin but Giada DiLaurentis could sell anything!! Yummy.... Cirroc, let's see your Tofu recipes!!

Cirroc said...

Yeah, I'll see what I can do about that. Moderation in all things.