October 23rd, 2011
What’s Cooking?, Pork Roast Stuffed with Pineapple and Drizzled with a Guava Sauce, Recipe, Easy
What are you talking about? No apples or prunes? No olives or raisins? Hahaha…You really can use all those if you really wanted to make it your own.
This pork roast was interesting to make. It was easy, if you find the ingredients…if not, that’s when you can also give it your own take on it. Just like I did.
Last year I bought a cookbook in Boulder, Colorado called Isabel’s Cantina by Isabel Cruz. She uses in her cooking bold ingredients like mangoes, limes, chiles, mint, ginger, cilantro, and guava. You better believe it that her cooking will never be bland.
Isabel has about 5 restaurants along the West Coast. When I saw that she had 2 of her restaurants in San Diego, I purchased the book so that I could tell my mother in law, who lives in San Diego to check them out. One of her restaurants is called Isabel’s Cantina in La Jolla and the other is Seaside Cantina in San Diego.
Two key ingredients in this pork roast are the pineapple and guava. Easy to find the pineapple, not so trying to find the guava paste to make the sauce in Rehoboth Beach. I have seen it, but of course, that day it was nowhere to be found at Giant.
I found guava fruit spread; that will do for now.
When I bought the pork loin I forgot that there were 2 in the package. It really would have been best to get one bigger roast.
The recipe uses pineapple chunks. When I make this recipe again, I will either cut those chunks in smaller pieces or even attempt crushed pienapple. Don’t know yet.
Anyway, here it goes.
Pork Roast Stuffed with Pineapple and a Drizzle of Guava Sauce
1/2 cup olive oil (depending on the size of the roast, I used 1/4 cup)
3 garlic cloves, minced
one 4 lb. boneless pork loin roast (I already told you what happened)
1 tablespoon dried oregano (again depending on the size of the roast, I used 1/2 of that.
Kosher Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
one 20-ounce can pineapple chunks, drained (depending on the size of the roast; did not even use half of that)
raisins, dried cranberries (my own take)
Guava Sauce; I will tell you in a bit what I did when I get to that part of the recipe.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
Mix together the olive oil and garlic
If you want trim the excess fat from the pork loin.
Then, split the loin in half lengthwise; but don’t cut all the way through to the other side. Open the loin and spread half of the olive oil mixture on top, and sprinkle with half of the oregano. Season with salt and pepper, optional.
Put the pineapple chunks on the bottom of the roast. This is when I added my own take on this roast. Get some raisins and dried cranberries and fill betweeen the pineapple chunks. This is when I mentioned above that I could change this a bit to make it then easier to tie. The dried cranberries and raisins complement the pineapple so well; plus added a festive color to the dish.
Tie the roast with kitchen twine at 1-inch intervals; tricky but doable. Spread the remaining oil mixture and the remaining oregano. If you want to add more salt and pepper, then you know what to do.
Tying the roast: The thinner end of the roast I folded up and tied it so that it would not get overcooked.
Put the roast in a roasting pan. I put it on a glass pan and transferred to the oven. Roast the pork in the oven for 30 minutes.
Guava Sauce
I remember growing up in Puerto Rico when guavas were found in everyone’s yard. That, I hear, is a thing of the past. It is very hard to find. The paste can be found in Latin markets, though.
1/3 cup cubed guava paste (I used almost the whole jar of the guava fruit spread)
1 garlic clove, minced (optional)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons dry white wine
A sprinkle of Kosher salt
A sprinkle of red pepper flakes to give it an extra kick (optional)
If you are using the paste then you need to melt it by combining the guava paste with 2/3 cup of water in a small saucepan over medium heat. When it has dissolved, add the olive oil, white wine and salt. Simmer for a couple of minutes, whisking to combine the ingredients. Let it cool.
You know, I did not do any of that. I just whisked the above ingredient into the guava preserve and even added a tablespoon of orange juice. No cooking was necessary.
After the pork has been cooking for 30 minutes, take it out and drizzle it with the guava sauce. I used all of it.
Put it back in the oven until it reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees in the center.
Take it out; let it rest, cut the pork into 1/4 inch slices, serve with the guava sauce drippings and add your own side dishes.
My family wanted wild rice and asparagus with my homemade mayo.
This dish is certainly worth making again. I hope you try it and make it your own…..talk to you later…
Note: The recipe, as I made it, was gluten free. You need to check all ingredients and guava, to make sure it is. If it does not say it on the package you can access the company’s website.
Tags: Easy, Easy Recipe, Gluten Free, gluten free recipe, Guava Sauce, Pork Roast Stuffed with Pineapple, Pork Roast Stuffed with Pineapple and a Drizzle of Guava Sauce, Recipe
