Roasted Pork Loin with Gorgonzola and Pears

As a kid, I hated all cheese except grated parmesan. Growing up, our family didn’t have a lot of money and going out for pizza was a huge treat. But I wouldn’t touch my pizza slices until my Mom took every last morsel of cheese off the pizza – just tomato sauce and dough for me. (And of course, I usually had to endure THE lecture about how hard they worked for this and I could at least TRY the cheese. Nope. Not a chance.) Somewhere between grade school and high school graduation, my dislike for cheese luckily faded. Amen to that or I would never have made this roast.

I first spied this recipe in one-of-my-guilty-splurges Italian cooking magazines, Sale & Pepe and the thought of gorgonzola melted into roasted pears made me swoon. Fall captured on a fork. I adjusted the recipe to use a pork loin rather than a pork tenderloin and to do everything in the same skillet in which the pork will cook in the oven. (No one needs to wash all those extra pans!)

The bite of the gorgonzola adds such a wonderful contrast to the sweet pears – heavenly! I was able to find gorgonzola piccante which has a more robust taste than its dolce counterpart but I am sure either will do just fine. And to read about the very interesting history on gorgonzola head over to this article on the aptly named site, Formaggio Kitchen. Thank heavens for accidentally leaving cheese curds to drain overnight!

One tip – if having to butterfly a pork loin terrifies you, just ask your butcher to do it for you. Easy breezy.

Hope everyone is doing ok – stay safe and hang in there. Sending huge hugs,