This is a recipe from my grandmother Piluchi, if you want to get it right, you’ll have to make it exactly as she did, which means, not caring much and taking it easy!
I remember her pork loin being delicious, bit I suspect this was more for her natural luck than for her effort, because she wasn’t the cooking kind of grandma and preparing the feast for others was not her style.
She was more into enjoying life with her guests, always perfect red lips, a cup of wine in one hand and a cigarette in the other. If the gravy burned because she was telling us some story, or because she was laugh her head off with a joke, she did some magic and always managed to fix it.
I have another recipe on the blog also from my grandmother Piluchi. It’s so foolproof and delicious that we have done it a million times, so many that I had forgotten it was hers. My aunt recently reminded me! I’m speaking of the Roast chicken with beer.
If you want to copy Piluchi’s full menu, then you have to grab a gin and tonic for dessert and enjoy life the best you can.
You can accompany this pork with some roasted vegetables, fried potatoes or white rice. Also you could use mashed potatoes or celeriac. If you prefer a lighter side dish, you can find many salads in the blog, based on tomatoes, fennel, the Persian salad, escarole and pomegranate, or the niçoise.
- 1 pork tenderloin, about 1kg.
- 3 large onions, peeled and cut into strips.
- 1 glass of rum or brandy or cognac.
- 3 tablespoons of jam. You can use any kind and try the different touches they’ll give your sauce. My grandmother used peach
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- Place the steak on a board, make some cuts into fat, not too deep.
- Rub the loin with salt and freshly ground pepper.
- In the saucepan put oil, about 2 tablespoons, and sear all the sides of the loin over medium high heat. Set apart.
- In the same pan we add a little more oil and sauté onions until they are soft and dark. It is important to be patient at this point and wait for it to do get really soft.
- When the onion is ready we get the loin back in, add the rum and let the alcohol to evaporate for a couple of minutes. We add the jam and cover the loin with water halfway.
- If we do the regular pot, it will take about 25-30 minutes over medium-low heat.
- If we do it pressure cooker the close and put over high heat. When the valve starts whistling lower the heat and count 10 minutes.
- Open the pot, take the loin out and let rest on the cutting board*.
- Meanwhile, we turn the heat up for about 5 minutes, to let the sauce to thicken well, taking care it doesn’t stick to the bottom.
- Add salt and pepper to taste. We can blend the sauce, but I like the onion chunks in it.
