Light Pork Tenderloin Porchetta

📝 Ingredients

• 600 g pork tenderloin (1 large tenderloin)
• 1 kg potatoes (about 8 medium, 125 g each)
• 1 red onion (about 100 g)
• 3 garlic cloves
• 3 sprigs fresh rosemary (2 for the stuffing, 1 for the potatoes)
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 unwaxed lemon (zest for the stuffing, wedges for serving)
• 3 tbsp olive oil (2 for the potatoes, ½ for the stuffing, ½ for searing the roast)
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Large ovenproof dish
• Chopping board and a sharp knife
• Rolling pin
• Kitchen string
• Frying pan
• Fine grater

📖 Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Peel the potatoes, cut them into evenly sized wedges and rinse, then dry them in a clean tea towel: when they're really dry, they brown instead of steaming.
2. Put the potatoes in a large ovenproof dish with the red onion cut into 8 wedges, 2 tbsp olive oil, the needles from one rosemary sprig, salt and pepper. Mix with your hands and roast for 20 minutes while you prepare the meat.
3. For the stuffing, very finely chop the garlic and the needles from the other 2 rosemary sprigs. Roughly crush the fennel seeds with the base of a glass. Mix everything with the lemon zest, ½ tbsp olive oil, ½ tsp salt and some pepper.
4. Butterfly the tenderloin: slice it along its whole length through the middle of its thickness, stopping 1 cm from the edge, then open it out like a book. Cover with baking paper and flatten with a rolling pin to an even 1.5 cm thickness.
5. Spread the stuffing over the whole surface, leaving a 1 cm border. Roll the meat up tightly lengthways, then tie it every 3 cm with kitchen string so it keeps its shape during cooking.
6. Season the outside of the roast with salt and pepper. Heat the rest of the oil in a frying pan over a high heat and sear it for 5 minutes, turning, until golden on all sides: pork tenderloin barely browns in the oven, so this step is what gives it that roast flavour.
7. Take out the dish, stir the potatoes and place the roast in the centre. Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, until the potatoes are golden and the centre of the meat reaches 63 °C on a thermometer: it should still be just pink.
8. Cover the meat with foil and leave to rest for 10 minutes so it stays juicy, leaving the potatoes in the switched-off oven. Remove the strings and cut the roast into 1.5 cm slices.
9. Serve the porchetta slices with the roast potatoes and onion, drizzled with the juices from the dish, and the wedges of the zested lemon for squeezing at the table.