After writing this post on weird food laws, I was left with a hunk of Roquefort and not a single idea what to do with it.

When you don’t have a hunk of Roquefort, you can think of tens of recipes to use it in – I mean, crumble it over a salad at the very least, right? But when you have a little Roquefort wedge nestled between your palms, it’s an entirely different story. You’re nervous. It’s like a femme fatale, the Roquefort, taunting with all of its sultry. You have me now, but whatever will you do with me? And then there’s you, the bumbling man who should have been careful with what he wished for, questioning his manhood with a worried look to boot. Gulp. What will I do with you?

So there I was in my kitchen, with a pungent hunk of Roquefort, a head full of imagined silver-screen romance scenarios between me and the cheese, and an inexplicable, massive brain fart. Reluctantly, I put it back in my fridge. My little mademoiselle, it’s not you, it’s me, I said. I need more time.

For the next week, the Roquefort lingered patiently in my fridge while I plotted out some smooth moves. I wanted something substantial, yet something that would also use the Roquefort in a subtle way, without letting it overpower the other ingredients. The week finally yielded what I had been waiting for: A rough recipe sketch of pork with apples and Roquefort. It would be a roulade, to marry everything into a single, unified dish. After a seemingly endless period of debate, there would be a happy ending for the Roquefort and I after all. Don’t they always say that good things come to those who wait?

For this recipe, you’ll need some kitchen twine, a meat mallet and a thermometer. The apple butter sauce is a spinoff of beurre blanc, which is usually a light butter sauce reserved for seafood. The addition of chicken stock or broth beefs up the sauce – so it can stand up to a the Roquefort and protein. I serve the roulade over a pile of roasted yams with sea salt, which add a little more salt and sweet to the dish. (Click on “Read the rest of this entry” for recipe.)

PORK ROULADE WITH ROQUEFORT AND APPLE BUTTER SAUCE

• Yield: 3 to 4 servings
• 1 1/2 pounds Granny Smith apples
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Pinch nutmeg
• Pinch salt
• 2 pounds pork loin
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup Roquefort, crumbled
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 teaspoon shallots
• 1/4 cup reserved apple juice (see recipe)
• 2 to 3 tablespoons chicken stock
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• Salt and pepper, to taste

PROCEDURE:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash, peel and core apples. Chop into a small dice and add to a saucepan over medium heat. Add lemon juice, sugar, water, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Cook until apples are soft, about 8 minutes. Strain liquid from apples and reserve to use in apple butter sauce. Allow apples and liquid to cool while preparing pork.
2. Butterfly pork loin and pound until flat, with an even thickness throughout.
3. Mix Roquefort cheese and 3/4 of cooled apples in a small bowl (reserve 1/4 of apples for apple butter sauce). Spread apple mixture onto flattened pork. Roll pork loin into a loaf and secure with kitchen twine. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Heat olive oil in a sauté pan over high heat. Sear pork loin on all sides. Place loin on a baking sheet and cook in oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until thermometer placed in center of roulade reads 155 degrees F. Remove from oven and set on cutting board to rest.
5. To make apple butter sauce: In a sauté pan over medium-high heat, add white wine and shallots. Cook until white wine is “au sec,” or almost dry.
6. Add 1/4 cup apple juice, chicken stock and remainder of apples. Reduce until slightly thickened.
7. Remove from heat and whisk in butter until completely melted. Season with salt and pepper. Serve apple butter sauce over sliced pork roulade.

– Cynthia Furey

This entry was posted on Monday, April 20th, 2009 at 8:59 pm and is filed under In the kitchen, Main dishes, Meat. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.