This is a special meal, my bacon wrapped pork loin stuffed with walnuts and rice will rival anything you can find in a restaurant, use it to impress friends and family without killing your budget. The ingredients are humble and easy to get, and if butterflying the roast is intimidating just ask the butcher to do it for you. I cooked three of these wonderful bacon wrapped roasts for my own very large co-ed wedding shower, there are still husbands that attended who think just based on this pork loin my husband found the perfect wife.
The stuffing has a warm rich flavor that plays up the earthiness of the walnuts and mushrooms in a nice contrast to the sweet fruit and maple syrup glazed bacon. The fresh sage hidden under the bacon wrapping helps to baste the pork loin with a soft sage flavor that intensifies when you find a cooked sage leaf to eat with the pork. It’s a great winter meal that just calls out for a glass of red wine and good company.
Bacon Wrapped Pork Loin Stuffed with Walnuts and Rice
Ingredients
For the Pork Roast
- 3 lbs Pork Roast
- 8-10 Fresh sage leaves
- 6-10 slices thick sliced uncured apple wood smoked bacon
- Ground dry sage
- ½ cup of maple syrup
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Cooking twine
For the Stuffing
- 1 cup of dry brown rice cooked in chicken/beef broth
- ½ a large onion chopped small
- 2 small carrots chopped small
- 1 rib of celery chopped small
- 6-8 mushrooms of any kind chopped small
- 2/3 cup walnuts chopped small
- 1 cup golden raisins rehydrate if you want
- 1 whole apple cored and chopped small
- 1-2 teaspoons thyme
- 2 teaspoons ground sage
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Butter and olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Instructions
Rice Stuffing
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Cook the brown rice per package instructions substituting chicken/beef broth for water, be sure and include a pat of butter. I cook my rice in the microwave or rice cooker. While rice is cooking put the onion, celery, and carrot into a pan on the stove with a drizzle of olive oil and cook until the onion is clear.
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Add the mushrooms and a large pat of butter; cook for about 5 minutes or until the mushrooms are tender. Add the dry spices: thyme, sage, nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste. Remove pan from heat and stir in the apple, walnuts and raisins. When your rice is ready add it to the veggies as well. Taste and adjust spices as needed.
The Pork Loin
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Butterfly the roast so it can be stuffed. Start by slicing across the roast about one inch from the bottom rolling the rest of the meat away from your blade. Think of it as un-rolling a rug. Continue across until you have laid open the whole piece of meat. Then rub the inside with olive oil and spice with ground sage, pepper and salt. Click here to enlarge the image below.
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Fill the roast with about 1 cup of the rice filling down one side and roll up. As you roll you may need to add more or less filling.
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Secure the roast in 3-4 places with cooking twine. Trim the extra string off close to each knot.
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Next pepper the outside and then layer the fresh sage across the top of the roast.
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Then cover with bacon in a single layer tucking the ends under the roast.
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Place the roast into a deep roasting pan and put in the oven at 375 degrees for about 20-30 minutes a pound. The extra rice stuffing can be put in an ovenproof dish and into the oven for the last 30 minutes of baking to heat it up. Serve the rice on the side of the roast.
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5-10 minutes before the roast is done drizzle maple syrup over top of the bacon, and return to the oven.
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When inside temperature of the roast is 160 remove from oven and let rest ten minutes before slicing parallel to the bacon so the spiral stuffing will show in each slice. Check the rice side dish one last time and adjust flavors if needed. Serve and enjoy.
Lovely presentation!