This isn’t pork loin I made today, but after a very successful Sunday I felt like adding a new recipe. This is the pork loin Ninka loves. Alongside delicate Italian ham, it’s one of the few „cold cuts” my little daughter accepts.
„Cold cuts” because roast pork loin like this is perfect sliced thinly and put on a sandwich. The recipe is incredibly simple, and if making your own lean, tender sandwich meat has seemed difficult until now, I recommend it. I’ll admit honestly that I’m not keen myself. It’s simply too lean. I much prefer roast pork neck, but that’s a completely different story. Or perhaps pork loin stuffed with prunes. But that too is for another time…
As for the day itself, today was beautiful. Wonderful weather, properly wintry at last. A light frost, plenty of white snow and a trip to a fairy-tale place. I’d thought there weren’t many places like that in Poland. And then, a big surprise. Bobolice Castle. Ruins bought by a private owner and renovated, or rather reconstructed (only one wall remained, so it’s hard even to call it a ruin), over several years, with an unbelievable result.
What’s very interesting is that the current owner bought the land with the castle from… a farmer who had been given it by the state. Yes, he simply received farmland and, along with it, several-hundred-year-old castle ruins. Not bad, eh? The current owner (a senator of some sort? The Lisiecki family, if I remember correctly) also bought the second, twin castle in Mirów. But those ruins are in much better condition than what used to stand in Bobolice, and the conservation officer won’t allow restoration. Better for them to remain ruins and keep falling apart.
Overall, the castle is beautiful. It’s worth driving there and taking a walk to the ruins in Mirów (just 1.3 km). Bobolice Castle now looks like this:
What’s also amazing is that the infrastructure around the castle is up to a good European standard. You don’t arrive at makeshift car parks (as in Podzamcze, or the better-known Ogrodzieniec), and it isn’t surrounded by stalls selling Chinese tat. Everything is neatly fenced with timber rails, with an excellent car park and approach to the castle. Below the castle there’s a small but tasteful hotel and restaurant. And the castle itself — small, but beautifully restored. Really worth it. It certainly looks just as good in a wintry setting (wonderful, with an improvised sledging slope too; it couldn’t have been better) as it does in summer. Just go.
Recipe details:
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Roasting time: 120 minutes
Roasting temperature: 180 degrees Celsius
Serves: enough for the whole family for 3 – 4 days
How many calories: hardly any
Ingredients for roast pork loin that’s perfect for sandwiches:
- 1.2 kg boneless pork loin (as in, piggy)
- 8 – 9 thin slices of Vilnius-style smoked pork back fat
- 6 cloves garlic
- freshly ground black pepper
- dried lovage
- salt
Recipe for oven-roasted pork loin as a cold cut:
The recipe is exceptionally simple, but it works:
1. I washed the pork loin thoroughly and dried it with kitchen paper.
2. I rubbed the pork loin with salt, freshly ground black pepper and lovage.
3. I peeled the garlic and cut it into slices. I covered the pork loin with them and placed it on a piece of aluminium foil.
4. I laid the slices of Vilnius-style pork back fat on top of the loin. I sprinkled it again with freshly ground black pepper.
5. I covered it with foil, leaving a small opening at the top, and put it in a roasting tin. I placed it in an oven preheated to 180 degrees Celsius.
6. After an hour of roasting, I opened the foil and poured off the rendered fat. I put it back in the oven with the foil opened halfway (so the pork loin was fully visible). I roasted it for another hour.
7. Afterwards, I removed the garlic and pieces of pork fat from the loin and dried it with kitchen paper. I let it cool. Pork loin for sandwiches, ready. Enjoy!
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