Greek Pork Roast Stuffed with Spinach & Feta

 

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Christmas dinner can be an expensive proposition.  It usually involves a pretty expensive protein, a turkey or a goose, a prime rib or a spiral honey ham carefully prepared with love and attention.  It is savory and delicious and something that is a yearly treat! What if I told you you could have the same delicious flavor and careful preparation in this gorgeous pork roast for a fraction of the cost as some of those more expensive meats?

This Greek Pork Roast Stuffed with Spinach & Feta will not disappoint and at just around $12 for the entire thing, you could save some of that Christmas money to put under your tree this year!  You can pick up a large 30″ pork tenderloin for anywhere between $13-$26 at my local wholesale shopping club (BJ’s) and in this recipe, I only use half of it to feed 8-10 people!  Talk about inexpensive! (So inexpensive, you might even make it on other special occasions throughout the year! shhhh)

And did I forget to mention that this is one of my husband’s favorite meals? Bonus! This is a crowd pleaser for sure!  Let me show you how I do it…

The pork loin I buy is about 30 inches long… I cut that in half to feed 8-10 people.

Sprinkle some kosher salt and fresh herbs… I am using rosemary and thyme. I also use a dry Pampered Chef Greek Rub.

Place the meat on a large skillet fat side down. I am using the Pampered Chef Executive Non-stick Skillet, which is my absolute most used pan! (It’s 12″ round and holds up to 5 qts!)

Be sure to sear on each side. You should be forming a nice crust all the way around.

Once you have seared all sides set aside in your roasting pan.

Cut into the meat about 3/4 of the way in. Be careful not to cut all the way through. This will be where you stuff the filling.

This is what you should be left with.

Spread salt and pepper in the cut meat.

This is now ready for the filling.

Add in a little more olive oil and sautée your onions in the rendered fat from the meat.

Mince up some garlic.

I use a large package of baby spinach. I have used fully grown spinach and it works out nicely as well.

Once your onions are tender, add in the garlic and then pile on the spinach. It will look like way too much spinach, but it will all shrink right down.

See… it melts right down. To this add in 1 tablespoon of the Pampered Chef Greek Rub and about 1 tsp. kosher salt.

Shut off heat and add in some crumbled feta.

Stuff the filling in the roast.

Sprinkle some more feta crumbles to the top.

The roast is ready for the oven. Roast for about 45 minutes until the meat reads 160°F with a meat thermometer.

Allow meat to rest for about 10 minutes before serving. This will ensure you get nice juicy cuts of meat.

Allow meat to rest for about 10 minutes before serving. This will ensure you get nice juicy cuts of meat.

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Greek Pork Roast Stuffed with Spinach and Feta

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

3-4 lb. boneless pork loin

6 cups baby spinach

3/4 cups crumbled feta, divided

1 large onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tbs. Pampered Chef Greek Rub

2 sprigs rosemary

2 sprigs thyme

3 tsp kosher salt, divided

fresh cracked black pepper

olive oil

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375°F.

Take meat out of the fridge about 1/2 hour before cooking.  Prepare meat by rubbing on 1 Tbs. Greek Rub, 2 tsp. kosher salt and the rosemary and thyme.

Add olive oil to a large skillet set over high heat.  Sear meat on all sides until a crust has formed around the entire roast.  Set aside in the roasting pan.  Prepare for stuffing by cutting down the length of the meat 3/4 of the way.

To prepare stuffing: Add more 3-4 Tbs. olive oil to the skillet (over medium heat) with the rendered drippings.  Sautée the onion until tender, then add in garlic and spinach.  When tender add in 1 Tbs. Greek Rub and 1 tsp kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper.  Turn off heat and add in about 1/2 cup feta.

Stuff the meat with spinach filling.  Sprinkle with remaining feta. Immediately place in oven and roast for about 45 minutes until the meat reads 160°F on a meat thermometer.  Let rest for 10 minutes before cutting. Serve hot. Enjoy!

*Gluten-free

Blackened Ahi Tuna

done1Blackened food is often thought to be something you can only get in a restaurant.  The mysterious nature of how it can be blackened yet not burned perplexes many.  I am here to take some of that mystery away.  It’s not all that hard if you follow a few very easy steps.

A traditional blackening mixture involves mayonnaise with spices slathered on and grilled. This is a Greek style Blackening mixture.  I have lightened things up a bit by switching out the mayonnaise for Greek yogurt which also adds a nice tang that when paired with the tuna and combined with a bit of lemon really makes this dish special.

Because of the switch from mayonnaise to yogurt, I find it best to use a stove top grill pan.  If you don’t have one of these handy dandy pans, just use a non-stick pan… the only difference will be that you won’t get those pretty grill marks… the flavor profile will remain, yum.

tuna steak

Start with a good quality, wild caught, Ahi Tuna steak. Season with kosher salt.

yogurt

Dish out about a cup of Greek yogurt.

Lemon

Zest a whole lemon.

Corriander1

These are coriander seeds. If you only have ground coriander, that’s o.k., just rub between your fingers as you add in to release some of the oils.

crushed corriander

Since I do have the whole seeds, I crush them up a bit with my mortar and pestle.

spices

Add in coriander, lemon zest and fresh cracked black pepper.

thyme

Chop up some fresh thyme and add to the mixture.

add thyme

Add in the thyme along with about a teaspoon of kosher salt.

cut lemons

Add in the juice of half a lemon.

slathered tuna2

Set aside about 1/4 cup of yogurt mixture, then slather about 2 Tbs. onto one side of the steak.  (If you wanted to marinade this for about an hour before cooking in the fridge, that would work nicely too… just be sure to remove from fridge about 20 minutes before cook time)

tuna grill

Heat up a grill pan (or a regular non-stick pan or cast iron skillet) with a couple tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and place the steak yogurt side down.

flip side

Before you flip the steak, season with kosher salt and slather with yogurt mixture.

grill2

This steak is cut to about an inch and a half to two inches thick. Allow steak to cook on each side around 5 mins for a well done steak. If you know and trust your fish monger and you know the fish is fresh, you could go more rare here and do 3-4 mins on each side. The more well done the fish gets, the more “fishy” it will taste.

plate3

Top with reserved yogurt and serve. Enjoy! (shown here with brown rice and quinoa and Greek cucumber, tomato salad with feta)

Blackened Ahi Tuna Recipe:

(serves 2)

2 Ahi Tuna steaks

1 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 lemon, zested and juiced

1 tsp. thyme, chopped

1 tsp. coriander, crushed

1 tsp. black pepper

1 tsp. kosher salt, plus more to taste

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions:

Prepare tuna steak by lightly salting.  Then mix together yogurt, corriander, lemon zest, 1/2 lemon juice, salt, fresh cracked pepper and thyme.  Reserve about 1/4 c. mixture.  Slather 2-3 T. yogurt onto one side of fish. In a very hot grill pan with a few tablespoons of olive oil, place tuna steak, slather side down. Repeat process of salting and slathering.  Cook 5 mins. on each side for well done steak.  Allow to rest and top with some of the reserved yogurt sauce.

Enjoy!