Easy Roasty Porky Goodness on a School Night - Cheater's Porchetta

I first heard about porchetta from Bill Buford's book Heat, and this is how he described it:

“Dario used half the pig, the torso, which was boned and rolled up with an extravagance of herbs—garlic, thyme, fennel pollen, pepper, rosemary, and double-ground sea salt—and then cooked it in a hot oven for four hours until it emerged as a noisy sizzling racket, the fat rendered and popping, trailing a black acrid cloud of smoke, a glistening and rather beautiful thing. When sliced, you got the carré, tasting like a tender steak, the bacony stomach, and everything in between.”

This helps explain the need for a cheater's version. A half pig? In my dinky oven? By the way, my dinky oven is capable of emitting a black acrid cloud of smoke when there's nothing in it. This is not particularly a glistening and rather beautiful thing.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, BA! I made some garlic leek polenta and tossed some arugula with olive oil, lemon juice, Parmesan and S&P to go with. Mangia!

Cheater's Porchetta
Bon Appetit Magazine

4 garlic cloves finely chopped; plus 2 heads, halved crosswise

1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh rosemary, plus 4 sprigs

1 tablespoon fennel seeds, coarsely chopped

1½ teaspoons kosher salt

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

Freshly ground black pepper

1 1½-lb. pork tenderloin

4 slices bacon

Preheat oven to 425°. Toss chopped garlic, chopped rosemary, fennel seeds, salt, and 1 Tbsp. oil in a small bowl; season with pepper.

Ready for lovin' in the oven!

Rub garlic mixture all over tenderloin (if you have time to do this in the morning, great; refrigerate pork until dinner). Scatter rosemary sprigs in a large baking dish and set tenderloin on top. Wrap bacon slices around tenderloin, tucking ends underneath so bacon stays put. Nestle halved heads of garlic around tenderloin and drizzle everything with remaining 1 Tbsp. oil.

Roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of tenderloin registers 145° for medium, 40–45 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest at least 10 minutes before slicing

Soft Polenta with Leeks, Garlic and Pecorino Romano

3 tablespoons butter

3 large leeks (white and pale green parts only), thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced

2 1/4 cups (or more) water

2 cups canned chicken broth

1 bay leaf

1 cup polenta (If you all ain’t high-falutin’ city folk, go with regular yellow cornmeal, 1 cup, and cook leek-cornmeal mixture for about 15 minutes rather than 35 minutes.

1/3 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add leeks; stir to coat. Cover and cook until leeks soften, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook for about a minute. Add 2 1/4 cups water, broth and bay leaf. Bring to boil. Gradually whisk in polenta. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until mixture is thick and creamy, stirring often and thinning with more water if necessary, about 35 minutes.

Remove pan from heat. Discard bay leaf. Stir in remaining 1 tablespoon butter and cheese. Season polenta to taste with salt and pepper. Divide polenta among plates. Top with pork and arugula.