The Laughing Wolf

Carnival Of The Recipes

This is going to be a bit different, since it is an entire meal and one just done Thursday night for my cousins.

UPDATE: The Carnival is up at Fresh as a Daisy! Lots of tasty stuff there, so go check it out.

Hardware:
Large, heavy-duty skillet
Cutting board
Chef’s knife
Boning knife
Peeler
Pepper grinder
Toothpicks or wooden skewers
Stove
Grill

Ingredients:
Olive oil
Fresh garlic
Dill
Balsamic vinegar
Kosher salt
Saigon cassia cinnamon
Ground nutmeg
Sweet smoked paprika
Granulated garlic
Fresh asparagus
Black truffle powder or truffle oil of your choice
Jarlsberg cheese (chunk, close to a pound)
Parrarna (sp?) cheese
3-4 Portabella mushrooms
.5 lb Oyster mushrooms
.25-.5 lb French horn mushrooms
5 or so Shitake mushrooms
Other mushrooms to taste
Peppercorns for grinding
2 large onions
Butter
Pork loin
Mangos

Start by chopping one clove of garlic and putting it in heavy skillet along with butter, olive oil, and around 1-2t of fresh ground pepper. Cut burner to low/med. low and let butter melt and ingredients sweat while you clean and chop the mushrooms. Cut up the heat and add the chopped mushrooms along with a small splash of balsamic vinegar and a pinch of dill. Sautee the mushrooms until tender and almost dry, so as to concentrate the flavor. Add salt at the very end to taste. Remove from pan and set aside, and take app. .5-1 cup of mixture and cool it in the refrigerator.

Cut the cheese up into small cubes, and then add it to the cooled mushroom mixture. Mix well.

Take the pork loin and trim as needed. Cut off a section of one end between .5-.75 inches and set aside. Using boning knife, make an incision in the center of the loin so that a pocket is formed down almost the entire length of the loin, leaving about an inch at the far end intact. Stuff the mushroom and cheese mixture into the loin until about .75 inches from the open end. Cut plug of meat slightly larger than hole using the set-aside piece, and secure it in place with toothpicks or skewer(s). Coat the pork loin in olive oil (and/or some truffle oil if you have it), and then coat with several pinches of the paprika, a generous amount of fresh ground pepper, some black truffle powder, and a small amount of cinnamon and ground nutmeg. Place loin in foil, pour any oil mixture left over loin, and cover loosely. Place on grill and cook until center is 160 degrees F. We used chips to add smoke as well.

While loin is roasting, rinse asparagus, trim as needed, and brush same with olive oil. Season with salt, fresh ground pepper, and granulated garlic. Set aside.

Peel the onions and slice as thin as possible. In heavy-duty skillet (washed, of course), heat butter and olive oil, add fresh ground pepper, and then add the onion. Cook until the onions reduce and turn a medium to dark brown colour.

When loin hits 160, pull from the grill and allow to rest for 10 minutes. While it is resting, grill the asparagus and reheat the mushroom mixture.

Presentation is to put a mound of the caramelized onion on the center of the plate, place a .5-inch slice of the stuffed loin on top, then lean a second slice against it. Place a mound of the mushroom mixture to one side, and stand three or so asparagus spears against it.

For dessert, slice the fresh mango and serve on small plates or in bowls.

Enjoy.

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