Roast loin of pork stuffed with broad beans and pecorino

Mario Matassa’s wonderful lonza di maiale ripiena di fave e pecorino (to give it its Italian name) is a perfect Sunday show-stopper…

Roast loin of pork stuffed with broad beans and pecorino
Serves
 4-6
Preparation time 15 minutes
Cooking time 1 hour, 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1kg pork loin in one piece

• 250g broad beans, with their tough outer
skin removed

• 200g mature pecorino cheese, finely grated

• 2 small free-range eggs

• a few tbsp dry breadcrumbs

• salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 100ml of dry white wine

• a sprig of rosemary

Instructions:

1 Preheat the oven to 180ºC/Gas Mark 4. You will need to open out the loin in order to stuff it, which is similar to butterflying a piece of meat. To do this, place the pork loin on a chopping board and make a cut from left to right about 2cm from the top. Do not cut all the way through, but stop about 2-3cm from the edge. Turn the knife and cut the meat the other way from left to right about 2-3cm under the first incision, again stopping short before cutting all the way through. You can now open out the meat so that it is ready to be stuffed.  

2 To make the stuffing, place the broad beans, pecorino, eggs, breadcrumbs and seasoning in a large bowl and mix everything together. Spoon the stuffing onto the meat and wrap the meat firmly around the stuffing with kitchen string or elastic. Do not wrap too tightly as the stuffing will expand during cooking.

3 Add the oil to a baking pan and heat on the hob. Sear the meat on all sides to brown, then add the white wine and a rosemary sprig. Transfer the baking pan to the oven for approximately 1 hour 15 minutes. Allow the meat to rest for 10 minutes under a piece of foil before slicing and serving.

 

Find more Italian-inspired recipes here