Cook Up Some LOVE!

Valentine's Day is landing on a Tuesday so I decided to celebrate this weekend with my Fuzzy. With this man the way through his heart is absolutely through his stomach.

I made a beautiful, colorful meal of Spinach, Kale & Artichoke Stuffed Pork Loin, Hassleback Potatoes, Sugar Snaps, Mushrooms and Caramelized Onions sauteed in butter and honey and Tomato, Onion and Artichoke Heart Salad.

First I'll begin with the Hassleback Potatoes. This process is done by making thin slices into a waxy potato, not all the way through, coating them with butter, garlic, salt, pepper and parsley and slowly baking them. It delicious and a beautiful presentation of a simple food.

To make the slices clean and even you'll need a very sharp knife. I use chopsticks on either side of the potato to stop the knife from going all the way through.

Place the potatoes into a baking dish.

In a sauce pan melt 2 tablespoons butter and add 2 cloves minced garlic and 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley. Pour this mixture over the potatoes and then sprinkle generously with salt and black pepper.

These will go into an oven set at 185C for 1 hour.

To prepare the pork loin, trim off any tendons or strips of fat.

By making thin, careful cuts, slice the loin into a sheet.

Season both sides with salt and pepper

Place slices of cured bacon side by side to equal the length of your pork loin.

Place the pork loin in the center of the bacon strips.

Now, we're gonna make the bright green, lovely filling!!

For my filling I used:

2 cups fresh spinach

1 cup fresh kale

2 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon shredded manchego cheese

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 basil leaves

salt & red pepper flakes to taste

1 tablespoon creme fraiche

Put these ingredients into a food processor and blend until creamy.

Spread this lovely green goodness onto the pork loin

Roll carefully but not too tight so as not to squeeze all of the filling out of the loin roulade.

Place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 1 hour.

The Tomato Salad is super easy. it's good to let it chill for at least an hour.

6 medium vine ripened tomatoes, thick slices

1 small yellow onion, sliced thinly

6 artichoke hearts, quartered

juice from 1 lime

1 tablespoon olive oil

parsley

salt and pepper

Toss together and set in the refrigerator to macerate

Remove the loin from the refrigerator and prepare it to enter the oven. Coat the loin in either a store bought or homemade marmalade. I have a great batch of homemade Clementine & Pineapple Marmalade.

It will go into the 185C oven for 30-35 minutes.

I put the loin into the oven with the potatoes after they've been in about 30 minutes.

I like to baste the potatoes with the butter from the bottom of the dish at this time.

When it's about 10 minutes left in the cooking time for the loin and potatoes, I begin the sugar snaps.

1/2 tbsp butter with 1 medium chopper onion until the onion begins to brown. Then toss in your mushrooms and sugar snaps. Stir the, for about 6 minutes, add salt, pepper and parsley and drizzle with honey.