Prep Time: 1 hr 30 mins
Total Time: 4 hrs
Servings: Makes 8 servings
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried apricots, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
- 1-3/4 cups Homemade Chicken Stock or one 14-ounce can chicken broth
- 1/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms
- 1 pound onions, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
- 1 pound carrots, peeled and halved crosswise
- 1/2 pound celery, trimmed and cut into 4-inch long pieces
- 2 heads fresh garlic, broken into cloves and peeled (about 1/2 cup)
- 2 tablespoons snipped fresh rosemary
- 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
- 1 6- to 8-pound bone-in pork loin roast, with backbone loosened
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon snipped fresh rosemary
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1-3/4 cups Homemade Chicken Stock or one 14-ounce can chicken broth
- Additional Homemade Chicken Stock or canned chicken broth
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
Directions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. For apricot stuffing, in a medium saucepan, combine apricots, 1-3/4 cups chicken stock, and 1/4 cup water. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Uncover and simmer 5 to 10 minutes more or until apricots are soft and broth reduces to a thick syrupy consistency. Cool completely. Stir in the bread crumbs; set aside.
- Place the dried mushrooms in a small bowl. Pour 1-1/4 cups of boiling water over the mushrooms; let stand for 5 minutes. Strain mushrooms through a fine mesh strainer, reserving liquid; rinse mushrooms and set both mushrooms and liquid aside. In an very large bowl, combine the onions, carrots, celery, garlic, 2 tablespoons rosemary, 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, and pepper. Stir in 13/4 cups chicken stock, mushrooms and mushroom liquid. Set aside.
- Set the roast, rib bones down, on a work surface. Don’t trim off fat from top of loin meat. Insert the blade of a thin long knife into one end of the roast about 1 inch from top and carefully slice open a pocket about 3 inches wide in the loin. If the roast is very long, insert the blade on the other side of roast to cut pocket so it runs through like a tunnel. Be sure the pockets meet in the center.
- Spoon as much of the apricot stuffing as you can into the pocket. Reserve any remaining apricot stuffing. Place the stuffed roast, bone side down, in a shallow roasting pan. Brush roast with olive oil. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon rosemary and 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Stir any remaining stuffing into vegetable mixture. Spoon vegetable mixture into the roasting pan around the roast. Cover roasting pan with foil.
- Roast, in preheated oven, for 45 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degreesF Uncover and roast 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hours more or until an instant-read thermometer inserted near the center registers 155 degrees F.
- Remove roast from roasting pan and transfer to a large serving platter. With a slotted spoon remove vegetables from roasting pan. Spoon vegetables around the roast. Cover meat and vegetables with foil; let stand for 15 minutes. (The temperature of the meat after standing should be 160 degrees F)
- Meanwhile, strain the cooking liquid through a fine-mesh strainer. Skim off fat. Add enough stock, if necessary, to equal 3 cups. Combine cornstarch and 2 tablespoons cold water in a medium saucepan. Whisk in the cooking liquid. Cook and stir over medium heat until sauce is slightly thickened and bubbly; cook and stir for 2 minutes more.
- To serve, slice roast between the rib sections. Spoon some of the warm sauce over the sliced roast. Serve with the roasted vegetables and any remaining sauce.
