Bon Vivette

As I'm leaving for the land of cow in just four days, I thought I would pay a little respect to my old friend the pig. And I had a nice Jewish boy over for dinner, so what better way to celebrate than by making Pork: Three Ways. Originally Chrisopher's recipe, I changed it up a bit, but kept the integrity of serving pork, inside pork, wrapped in pork. I sweated some onions and garlic in olive oil, added rosemary and thyme, some salt and pepper, and a little grate of fresh nutmeg -- then cooked off the pork sausage until it was still moist, but browned. I filleted two pork loins and pounded out the ridges to make nice little pork templates -- these I wrapped around the sauteed pork sausage -- much like a sushi roll, pulling back tightly on the pork loin to make a tight tube of yummy pork bits up the center. I smeared the outside with a little salt, pepper, and olive oil and then a nice coat of mustard mixed with honey. For the piece de resistance -- and the third item of porkiness, I wrapped the loins in pounded bacon strips. I laid the two loins tip to tail in a Le Creuset roaster and surrounded the lot with apple chunks and chopped onions. I pushed sprigs of thyme in between and around it all. I roasted the loins in a 325 degree oven for about half an hour and then served them with mashed potatoes and green beans with carmelized shallots. It was an ode to the pig. Come Tuesday, I'm off to Buenos Aires, Argentina -- land of steaks and malbec. Adios! ...for now.