Thanksgiving for Four

Thanksgiving for 4 Dish Guide

Serves 4-6

For the Stuffed Pork Loin

1 3-4 Lb Pork Loin

4 cups of homemade bread cubes (use Italian or artisan bread of choice)

2 hot Italian sausage links, casings removed

1 cup diced onion

1 cup diced celery

2 cloves celery, minced

¼ cup diced granny smith apple

3 cups chicken stock

Salt and Pepper to taste

Butterfly the pork loin and season to taste. In a non-stick skillet, cook the sausage, crumbling it into pieces. When it is mostly cooked, add the celery, onion, garlic and apple and cook 5-7 minutes or until the vegetables are softening. Cube your bread of choice into rustic cubes. Place bread and stuffing mix into a bowl and add stock one cup at a time, stirring to combine. Depending on the type of bread you use you may need a bit less or more stock. Stir to break up any big pieces of bread and until the consistently is that of wet sand.

Place 1 cup of the stuffing in the middle of the loin and spread into a half inch layer. Tightly roll the loin from one edge to the other, leaving the seam side down. Don’t worry if some of the stuffing falls out. Just add it to the leftovers which we will bake separately. Tie the roast up with 2-4 loops of kitchen twine and place in an oven safe skillet (cast iron, carbon steel or stainless steel ideal). Roast at 400 for about an hour or until thickest part of the meat registers 140 degrees.

Remove from the oven and loosely tent with foil for 30 minutes to rest.

To bake the remaining stuffing, place in baking dish and bake at 400 for 45-60 minutes or until browned on top and hot through the middle.

For the Potato Gratin

3 lbs russets potatoes sliced 1/8 inch thick

1 cup whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

4 oz freshly grated parmesan cheese

1 T fresh minced sage

½ tsp dry thyme leaves

Salt and Pepper to taste

Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix thoroughly. Do not rinse the potatoes at all. The starch helps to thicken the gratin. Place the potatoes in a baking dish with deep sides and press down to cover with the liquid as much as possible. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 400 degrees for one hour. Remove the foil and bake for 30 additional minutes. Optionally top with extra cheese and broil for 3-5 minutes for maximum browning.

For the Kale Apple Salad

4 cups shredded kale

1 granny smith apple, cored and sliced thinly

3 oz dried cranberries

3 oz candied walnuts

2 oz goat cheese, crumbled

Juice of 1 lemon

1 T honey

1 t Dijon mustard

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Add the lemon juice, honey, Dijon, salt and pepper to a bowl and whisk to combine. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking to create the vinaigrette. Add the kale, apple, walnut, cranberries and goat cheese to a bowl. Toss with the vinaigrette to dress. Because kale is so hearty you can toss this salad hours or even a day in advance. If you choose to substitute arugula, baby green or romaine, wait to toss and dress until ready to serve.

For the Gravy

Pan with drippings

1 T butter

2 T flour

2 cups turkey stock

Salt and pepper to taste

Return the pan in which you cooked the pork to medium high heat. Stir in the butter and melt. Add the flour and cook 2-3 minutes whisking/stirring constantly. When the flour is nutty smelling, add the stock and stir to incorporate the butter, flour and any brown bits of fond from the bottom of the pan. Once it simmers it will thicken. If you want it to be thicker, cook down longer.

Dish Notes

We used a very flavorful roasted garlic and rosemary bread for our stuffing. If you choose to use a plainer Italian loaf you may want to add additional herbs such as rosemary or poultry seasoning but that’s up to you. The entire pork dish could easily be made the same with a boneless skin-on turkey breast, just be sure to cook it through to 165. Those can be hard to find and expensive so we think the pork loin is the perfect substitute.