EGGPLANT-SPINACH STUFFED PORK TENDERLOIN

EGGPLANT-SPINACH STUFFED PORK TENDERLOIN

from

Southfacin’ Cook, Patsy Brumfield

Cooking for my family is both fun and helpful. My son and daughter-in-law work hard all week, and their weekends are consumed with keeping my rambunctious, talkative 3-year-old grandson on track, loosely defined. So, I try to make a meal for us all every now and then to reduce that pressure and entertain myself at the same time. Here’s one example: stuffed pork tenderloin.

This recipe is very flexible. If you’re allergic to spinach, like my friend Pamela, substitute another favorite green like kale. If you prefer to avoid mushrooms, like my son-in-law Chapman, don’t include them. But stick with the eggplant, which really takes on a softly flavorable feature in the stuffing. Really.

EGGPLANT-SPINACH STUFFED PORK TENDERLOIN

EQUIPMENT: Medium Dutch oven, wooden spoon, chef’s knife, large chopping board, juicer, measuring equipment, microplane, baking sheet, aluminum foil, 2 small basting brushes, 2 small bowls ok in microwave, plastic wrap, cooking twine, 2 large plastic bags (not scented), large mixing bowl, twist-tie, whisk, meat thermometer

STUFFING INGREDIENTS

1 medium eggplant

1 Tablespoon olive oil to coat foil on baking sheet

8 oz. mushrooms, chopped roughly

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

1 Tablespoon minced garlic

1 Tablespoon dijon mustard

1 12-oz. package frozen chopped spinach

½ cup seasoned bread crumbs

1 Tablespoon olive oil for Dutch oven

salt and pepper

1 lemon

½ teaspoon grated nutmeg

¼ cup apricot jam (more to coat tenderloin for baking)

Heat oven to 400. Wash eggplant, then slice it in half. Line baking sheet with foil and coat lightly with olive oil. Place eggplant halves inside down onto foil. Bake 20 minutes or until soft. Cool briefly.

In Dutch oven, heat olive oil on medium, then add onions to caramelize. Sprinkle with salt. Cook about 15 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook until liquid begins to be drawn out. Then add lemon juice, garlic, mustard, spinach and nutmeg. Cook 5-7 minutes until mixture heated through, then add jam and thoroughly incorporate. Taste for salt and pepper. Add bread crumbs.

Scoop cooled insides of eggplant halves into the stuffing mixture in the Dutch oven. Mix thoroughly. Allow to cool before stuffing tenderloin. (NOTE: I like to do this part one day and refrigerate overnight while the tenderloin brines, then put it all together for roasting the next day.)

BRINING THE TENDERLOIN

In a large mixing bowl, combine ½ cup table salt, ¼ cup whole peppercorns, ¼ cup dark brown sugar, 1 Tablespoon cinnamon with 1 quart water. Mix until fairly well dissolved. Rinse tenderloins, remove “silver” tissue on outside and place them to the side briefly. Unfurl the plastic bags and place one inside the other, for added strength. Place the tenderloins into the inside bag, pour the brine on top of the meat, twist the two bags closed and squeeze out as much air as you can. Gently shake the brine-bags to move around the meat, close with a twist tie and put in refrigerator overnight.

Next day, rinse brine from tenderloins and set them aside to be butterflied, which I just learned how to do via YouTube. Pretty easy, really.

STUFFING THE TENDERLOINS

On a large cutting board, cover each butterflied tenderloin, inside up, with plastic wrap and pound with a mallet to equalize thickness as best you can. This doesn’t have to be perfect. Just give it several whacks where needed. Remove plastic wrap (and set aside if you’re not going to cook the tenderloins right away.)

Turn the cutting board so the tenderloin is sitting length-wise. With a large spoon, dollop a thin layer of stuffing onto the meat, spreading it no farther than ½ inch from the edges. Cut about 3 feet of twine in ready to bind the meat, which you now begin to roll length-wise like a jellyroll.

When that’s done, take your twine and tightly secure each end. Then, less tightly tie up the tenderloin along the rest of its length, about every 2-3 inches to discourage the stuffing from oozing out (although some is going to do this anyway. Not to worry.) I wrap each in the plastic wrap I used to whack them and put them in the fridge until I’m ready to bake them, sometimes overnight.

ROASTING

If you’ve refrigerated the stuffed tenderloins, bring them out and allow them to warm up slightly for about 20 minutes on a foil-lined baking sheet. Heat oven to 375. Scoop about ¼ cup jam into each small glass bowl and microwave about 15 seconds to liquify, then (from one bowl) coat each tenderloin with a thin layer of apricot jam, using a small cooking brush. (I suggest 2 bowls and 2 brushes because you don’t want to coat the cooked tenderloin with the brush that’s touched the raw meat.) Insert your meat thermometer into the center of one tenderloin and set it for done at 160. Roast to temperature, not time. Remove when the thermometer registers 160 and give each one more brush with jam, then lightly cover with foil and allow to rest about 15 minutes before slicing to serve.

SERVES: 8-10

Photos: Patsy Brumfield