Seared pork loin, roasted tomato and shiitake pork jus with butternut squash and cardamom risotto

by Shawn Pillai

Pan-seared rosemary-infused pork loin finished with a roasted tomato shiitake mushroom pork jus, served with butternut squash and cardamom risotto and haricot verts

Now that I've put eight hours into making pork stock, I should probably find something to do with it. I keep a “little black book” of dishes I've created over the years. If I’m lacking inspiration, I can skim through my list of dishes and select one to modify. In this case, a pork loin and risotto dish that I made last year for a quick special at Rocky Gap caught my eye. The original title of the dish reads as follows: pan-seared pork loin with roasted tomato pork jus with shiitake mushroom risotto and asparagus. That sounds nice, but considering that I’m not plagued by the time constraints of creating a special in under an hour, it could be better.

Typical semi-formal place setting

First, giving the pork loin an extra layer of flavor by infusing it with rosemary will go a long way toward enhancing the dish. Using the shiitake mushrooms in the sauce rather than the risotto will allow them to retain more of their texture, and will allow for other ingredients in the risotto. Adding butternut squash and spicing the risotto with cardamom will pair nicely with the fall season. Considering the bold flavors involved in both pork and fall risotto, asparagus has too strong a flavor. Instead, I’ll use haricot verts. The final dish will be seared rosemary-infused pork loin with a roasted tomato shiitake mushroom pork jus, butternut squash and cardamom risotto, and haricot verts.

At the risk of sounding ungrateful, allow me to say that Martin’s is where recipes go to die. Not only did they not have the pork bones necessary to make pork stock last week, they didn’t have cardamom pods. I settled for ground cardamom at the risk of making the risotto bitter and gritty. The final ingredients list reads as follows: 7 oz cut of pork loin, plum tomatoes, raw green beans, shiitake mushrooms, butternut squash, parsley, shallots, garlic, rosemary, arborio rice, chicken broth, fresh parmigiano-reggiano cheese (avoid the grated stuff in the plastic shaker), ground cardamom, brown sugar, and kosher salt. White and red wine are also needed, but I typically have a bottle of each on hand.

Produce

Upon arriving home, the first step is to brine the pork. Brining meat uses osmosis to infuse flavor and moisture into the product, and it is often the most important step toward achieving big, restaurant-style flavors. A typical brine is one cup of salt and one cup of sugar per gallon of water. Aromatics such as garlic and herbs are used to enhance flavor profiles. Since I’m making rosemary-infused pork, I'll be using rosemary.

First, bring one quart of water to a boil. Dissolve a cup of sugar and a cup of salt in the water, then add the rosemary. Simmer for 10 minutes to allow the flavors of the rosemary to leech into the brine. Remove the brine from the heat and add three quarts of ice to chill. Taste the brine when it’s finished. It should taste like ocean water (hence the term brine). Depending on the thickness of the product involved, brining can take anywhere from two hours to two days. I recommend brining a one-inch thick cut of pork loin in the refrigerator for four hours.

Pork loin in brine

While I’m waiting on the pork to finish brining, I've got some time to prepare mise en place. Mise en place is a French term that translates to “putting in place,” and refers to preparing ingredients ahead of time so that they’re ready to use when needed. Mise en place is vital in cooking. Nearly every time I've resorted to shouting foul words while cooking in a professional kitchen, it’s because I've neglected to prepare something in advance and am forced to run around in a state of panic as I scramble to recover from my mistake.

Mise en place is vital when cooking

Mise for this particular dish involves julienning shallots, mincing the garlic, slicing the shiitake mushrooms, chopping the parsley, preparing tomato concasse, roasting a tomato, medium dicing and roasting the butternut squash, and trimming the haricot vert. I've linked to other tutorials for these procedures in an effort to save space.

Tomato concasse ready to be peeled and deseeded after blanching in simmering water

When the pork is finished brining, it’s time to begin cooking. Pat the pork loin dry with a paper towel. Note that because the pork has been brined, using additional salt is not recommended. Virgin olive oil (avoid extra virgin as it has too low a smoke point) or canola oil are both ideal for the high heat that searing requires. Contrary to popular belief, searing meat does not "seal in" the juices, but rather creates flavor and texture essential to restaurant quality. Next, open the doors and windows. There will be smoke. Add enough oil to a hot saute pan to fully coat the bottom. The oil should be smoking before the pork loin is added. When the pork is introduced to the oil, there’s going to be a lot of hissing, splashing, and smoking. Searing at home tends to be a frightening experience at first, but the only way to get a nice restaurant-style crust via Maillard reaction is to risk your life through fire hazard and fill the kitchen with smoke and splattering oil (legal disclaimer: don't actually do this. I'm a professional moron). Restaurants have huge vents that suck the smoke away so that it doesn't accumulate, but home cooks normally don’t have such a luxury. When the pork loin is golden brown and crisp on both sides, remove and set aside to finish in the oven just before plating.

Searing develops a flavorful brown crust on meats

When constructing risotto, it is important to select the proper rice. Shorter, rounder rices such as arborio and carnaroli contain the high levels of starch needed to make a creamy risotto without cheating and using cream. Start by sauteing 1/4th cup of diced onions in 4 tablespoons of butter until the onions are soft. Add a cup of rice and continue to apply medium heat. When the rice is light brown in color, add a half teaspoon of cardamom and deglaze with half a cup of dry white wine and begin adding hot chicken stock (that has been properly salted), one ladle at a time, stirring constantly. This constant agitation is necessary to extract the starches from the rice. When making risotto, professional cooks use a method called all'onda, which translates to “wavy” or “flowing in waves.” All’onda refers to both the technique used when making risotto and the desired outcome of the finished product. To achieve all’onda, the cook must rapidly flip the risotto in the pan so that the rice looks like one continuous, fluid wave. Stirring constantly produces the same end product, however. The risotto is done when the rice is still firm and chewy, but not hard. Italian cooks call this al dente, which translates to “to the tooth.” Add a heavy pinch of parsley, the roasted diced butternut squash, and a small handful of grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese. Toss the ingredients together, cover, and set aside.

Place the pork loin in a 350° oven to finish cooking while constructing the sauce. In a blender, combine half a cup of warm pork reduction with one roasted tomato and puree. Strain through a fine mesh sieve and reserve. In a saucepan, caramelize the mushrooms and shallots in olive oil. When the mushrooms and shallots are golden brown, drain the excess oil, add garlic, and deglaze with a splash of red wine. Add the roasted tomato and pork reduction and bring the liquid to a simmer. Reduce until the sauce is nappe, a French culinary term that refers to a sauces ability to coat the back of a spoon and still retain the shape of a line when a finger is drawn through it. Adding a mere 1/4th teaspoon of butter at the very end will brighten the sauce and make it shine. Remove from the heat and add the tomato concasse. Steam haricot verts for five minutes.

Sliced pork loin

When the pork loin is finished cooking, the internal temperature should be 145°. Some cooks determine doneness by pressing on the meat, but the only real way to be sure is to take its temperature with an instant-read thermometer. Rest the pork loin for at least five minutes. Resting is important to allow for the redistribution of juices within the meat. If a cut of meat is sliced without resting, the juices will bleed out onto the cutting board and the meat will be dry. Simply slice on a bias, plate, and serve.

Finished dish