Prosciutto-wrapped roast pork is served cold with a smoked paprika aioli and a side of pesto potato salad.
When the weather heats up I like to cool my dinners down.
One way I’ll do that is to prepare a meal in the morning and then let it chill in the refrigerator all day long, until suppertime, which is what I did in today’s recipe for chilled prosciutto-wrapped roast pork loin with smoked paprika aioli.
To make it, a boneless pork loin roast was rubbed with freshly ground black pepper and chopped fresh rosemary. Thin, long slices of prosciutto were then wrapped around the roast. This cured, dried ham will richly flavour the roast and also salt it.
The prosciutto-wrapped pork was then roasted until cooked through, and then cooled to room temperature. The roast was then refrigerated several hours, until ready to slice and serve cold with the aioli, a garlic-flavoured mayonnaise.
In this case, I also flavoured the aioli with ultra savoury smoked paprika and some lemon juice, two tastes that, along with the garlic, worked very well with prosciutto-wrapped pork and the pepper and rosemary seasoning it.
In the morning, I also prepared and then chilled a side dish to serve with the pork: pesto potato salad. This Italian-style version of potato salad is enhanced and richly coloured by mixing bright green basil pesto into it.
For convenience sake, you could buy that pesto, ready-made, in a jar at a grocery store. But in the summer, with fresh local basil now being available at farmers’ markets and home gardens, the salad would taste best if you made your own pesto. You’ll find a recipe for it below.
To round out this meal of chilled, sliced, pork and pesto potato salad, you could plate and serve them with ripe, red tomato slices, tomatoes that you could drizzle and sprinkle with a little balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sea salt and black pepper, if desired. You could also serve the pork, potato salad and tomatoes with a good loaf of crusty, country-style bread.
Pork loin roast, rubbed with aromatic black pepper and rosemary, wrapped in salted, flavour enhancing prosciutto, roasted and then chilled. The tasty roast is then sliced and served cold with a garlicky, smoky tasting aioli.
Preparation time:30 minutes
Cooking time:65 to 80 minutes
Makes:five servings
For the aioli
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1 medium garlic clove, minced
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp lemon juice
• salt to taste
Combine ingredients in a serving bowl. Cover and refrigerate the aioli until needed. It can be made a day or more in advance.
For the pork
1 (2 1/4 lb./1 kg boneless pork loin roast
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste
5 long, paper-thin slices prosciutto
Preheat oven to 350 F. Season and the rub the fatty side of the pork roast with the rosemary and pepper. Set the pork, fat side up, in a roasting pan. Drape the prosciutto in an overlapping row on top of the pork roast. Tuck the ends of the prosciutto underneath the roast, wrapping it in that cured meat.
Roast the pork 65 to 80 minutes, or until an instant-read meat thermometer inserted into the centre of the roast reaches 150 F (about 66 C; see Note). Cool roast to room temperature, and then set on a plate. Cover and refrigerate pork at least four hours.
When ready to serve, thinly slice the pork, set on dinner plates and serve it with the smoked paprika aioli, for dolloping beside the meat at the table.
Note: Pork loin roasts can vary in thickness, which is why I give a range on how long to cook it. Be sure to use an instant- read meat thermometer to gauge when it’s done. When the roast is resting after you remove it from the oven, the meat will continue to cook a while longer and its internal temperature will rise to the 160 F (71 C) recommended by pork marketing boards. Refrigerate and start chilling the roast the moment it’s cooled to room temperature.
This is a cool and appealing potato salad flavoured, Italian-style, with basil-rich pesto.
Preparation time:25 minutes
Cooking time:about 13 minutes
Makes:five servings
1 1/2 lbs red-skinned potatoes, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup store-bought or homemade pesto (see recipe below)
2 tsp cider vinegar
• splash Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce
1/2 cup grated carrot
2 small to medium green onions, thinly sliced
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Set potatoes in a pot and cover with a generous amount of cold, lightly salted water. Set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Lower heat until water is gently simmering. Simmer potatoes until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain potatoes well, and then cool to room temperature.
Combine mayonnaise, pesto, vinegar and Tabasco in a medium bowl. Add the potatoes, carrot, green onion, salt and pepper and gently toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate salad until needed. The salad can be made many hours before serving
Bright green, basil-rich pesto you can add to all sorts of dishes, such as the potato salad above, pasta, pizza and other dishes.
Preparation time:10 minutes
Cooking time:None
Makes:About 1 cup
4 cups fresh basil leaves, loosely packed (see Note)
3 medium to large garlic cloves, sliced
1/3 cup pine nuts, slivered almonds or walnuts pieces
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (not the dried powdered type)
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more, if needed
Place all ingredients, except oil, in a food processor and pulse until chopped. Add the oil and process until well blended. Add a bit more oil if you find the pesto too thick. Refrigerate the pesto in a tightly sealed jar with a skim of olive oil on top. It will keep at least a week. The pesto could also be frozen in ice-cube trays, unmoulded and kept frozen in freezer bags or containers until needed.
Note:When measuring the basil, I pressed down on the leaves, loosely packing them.
Eric Akis is the author of eight cookbooks. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.