After vowing to not gorge myself silly after four days of eating out culiminating in a two caipirinha and corvina meal at Café Brasil, I made the mistake of being inspired enough to cook a semi-fancy meal. I guess watching a good episode of Iron Chef, browsing through the latest Bon Appétit and going grocery shopping does that to one.

Tonight's main course was a pork loin roulade based on this recipe. First, I took a pork loin, cut it into one long roll, hammered it into a relatively even thickness and then partitioned it into thirds. The paste I used was pretty much spot on the same as what was written in the recipe, but with a few substitutions - serrano chiles, lime juice, ginger, garlic, basil leaves (a bit more than the recipe called for since I didn't have any mint), peanut oil, almond flour (instead of slivered/whole almonds). All of that was food processed into a pesto and then slathered on the pork loin. The pork loin pieces were rolled up tightly and then skewered shut. Finally, the whole package was roasted in the oven @ 350º F for about an hour + 20 minutes.

How was it? Some pork loin roulade, some braised broccoli and the leftover chardonnay has reduced me to food coma apathy. So good, so tasty, so sleepy, so much for cleaning and laundry...*snore*