♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ - You know, I've been cooking a long time, and so when I entertain, I keep it really simple.

Soup or stew, maybe a salad, and maybe a dessert.

Three recipes, tops.

But there are times of year, around the holidays, when you really want to do something spectacular.

So we have two great recipes for you today on Milk Street.

The first is a roast from Argentina.

They use beef; we're going to use pork.

We stuff it with capicola, red peppers, and olives.

And then, instead of pecan pie for Thanksgiving, we suggest you try something a little more elegant-- a French walnut tart.

The walnuts are slightly bitter, has a great gooey caramel filling.

So stay tuned as we do Milk Street holidays.

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♪ ♪ - You know, here at Milk Street, we love recipes that start with something inexpensive, and they turn it into something wonderful, which is like the matambre in Argentina.

It's a cut of meat which is... tends to be tough, it's what's left over after all the good stuff's been sold or used.

And you can marinate it, let's say a cut of beef, you could pound it, do lots of things.

And then they would fill it and roll it up.

And this could be used for Christmas Eve dinner, which, of course, is in our summer.

Or you could cut it into thin slices and chill it and serve it as an appetizer all year round.

So that notion of the matambre, it's called arrollado, which means sort of rolled up or filled.

And we're going to do that now, except probably do it a little differently, right?

- Chris, as you said, matambre is usually made with beef, and the cut of meat that we can find that best corresponds to an Argentinean matambre cut is flank steak.

And I don't know about you, but I have a hard time butterflying flank steak.

It really is splitting hairs.

- A very long, thin knife would be helpful, yes.

- Yes-- matambre can be made with other cuts and other animals, in fact.

And pork loin is really commonly used.

So we're going to start with a four-pound piece of pork loin.

You want to keep the fat cap on because what happens is, this is going to render as it roasts and help keep the meat really moist.

So we're going to flip it over, and we're going to open this up like a book, and we want it to be about half an inch to three-quarters of an inch thick.

So we're going to split it right down the middle.

And a great knife for this is something long and thin and flexible, like a filet knife.

You really want to make sure to not cut all the way through.

So we're going to cut down carefully.

Just use the tip of the knife and run it down the seam.

- So how far from the bottom should you be?

Like half an inch?

- About half an inch.

And you can see we're just about there.

So we have it in two halves, and we're going to work in one direction first, and then we'll flip it around and do the second direction.

So you want to get the knife close as parallel to the board and just use long, steady cuts.

Don't rush it, and use your fingertips to open the seam up and just keep checking.

You can keep checking up front to make sure your thickness is about right.

And we're looking pretty even.

And I'm constantly smoothing it with my hand.

As you can see, I did nick it.

See, there's a little hole there?

- I was trying to be polite.

- That little nick is fine, because we're going to put down a layer of capicola on the inside, which will help seal it.

- Okay.

- So that first side's done, and then... so at this point, we're going to flip it.

And the second side's easier, because you already have this first one rolled out.

♪ ♪ So we've got our pork ready, and now it's time to make the chimichurri.

This is a fantastic sauce.

In Argentina, they put it on just about everything, and it's basically just a raw herb garlic sauce with some spices and a fair amount of olive oil.

We're going to start with parsley.

It's three cups of flat leaf parsley.

And then about one bunch of oregano.

It's usually about a half-cup to three-quarter of a cup.

And then seven garlic cloves, peel them and smash them.

That's all you have to do.

We've got one-and-a-half teaspoons of freshly ground coriander.

Coriander is one of the spices with a really fleeting flavor, so we do recommend grinding it fresh.

And one-and-a-half teaspoons freshly ground cumin.

One teaspoon of kosher salt, three-quarter teaspoon pepper flakes.

Doesn't add a ton of heat, but it helps cut the richness of the pork.

And a half-teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.

Then we're going to grind this up for about 45 seconds or so.

We want to process it pretty finely.

(processor whirring) So, Chris, it's been about 45 seconds, and you can see it's really finely ground up.

So now we're going to add a quarter-cup red wine vinegar and three-quarter-cup extra virgin olive oil.

And now we're going to process it until it's just a little smooth and fine.

(processor whirring) ♪ ♪ That's looking pretty good, Chris.

And it smells... wow.

- Mmm.

So this is more of a... really a sauce rather than a relish, right?

- It is, Chris.

I've had chimichurris really varying in texture.

Some were almost as chunky as a salsa verde, and others are really runny.

At this point, we're going to measure out a quarter-cup, and we're going to put a quarter-cup of this into the pork loin.

It will help moisturize it and help add a lot of flavor.

And the rest of this we're going to save for serving at the table.

See, we've made the chimichurri at this point, and now it's time to make the spice rub.

And the spice rub is going to go on both the inside and outside of the pork.

And it's going to add flavor, and it's going to help brown the meat.

So, this is really easy.

It's a tablespoon more of the freshly ground coriander, a tablespoon more of the freshly ground cumin, two teaspoons of brown sugar, three-and-a-half teaspoons of kosher salt, and one-and-a-half teaspoons of freshly ground black pepper.

And we can just mix this up.

Okay, so now we're going to season both sides of the meat.

Sometimes hands really are the best utensil.

Let's flip it over.

Now we're going to season the outside of this pork loin.

Do make sure to really season the fat cap really well, because this is going to be the top presentation side of the roast.

Okay, I'm going to flip it back over at this point and even it up.

And we're going to take that quarter-cup of reserved chimichurri and spread it on there.

It's like frosting a cake.

We're going to clean up, and then we're going to come back and actually fill the pork loin.

So, Chris, we've seasoned both sides of that meat with that really flavorful spice rub.

We've put a quarter-cup of the chimichurri on the inside, and now it's time to actually stuff it.

So the first layer is going to be six ounces of capicola or mortadella.

- I mean, I've eaten it, but what is it?

- Capicola is cured and spiced pork loin.

- How appropriate.

- Yeah.

- It's... - Okay.

- You know, it's great here, because it adds richness and you get that body and depth of a fermented meat product to really enhance the pork loin.

So there we have a nice layer of capicola.

Our hole on the outside disappeared, right?

It's beautiful.

- Nicely done.

- At this point, we're going to take a half-cup of chopped green olives and scatter it over top.

The olives add a little piquancy, which helps cut through the richness of the meat and the filling.

And now we're going to add about a cup and a half of roasted red peppers.

You need to blot them dry really well.

You don't want to add any extra moisture to this.

You can sort of tear these up with your fingers, too.

I think the peppers add this really nice sweetness to it, which helps bring out the flavor of the pork.

We're going to add a third of a cup of panko breadcrumbs.

They're really dry and they're really crisp.

So what the breadcrumbs do is, they absorb the moisture and they sort of help bind the roll together.

- So, in Argentina, this almost isn't a recipe, right?

You could fill it with anything.

I mean, there's no specific recipe for this, right?

- That's actually a beautiful thing.

They come in all different shapes and sizes and flavorings.

One of my favorites is a pizza matambre.

So they actually leave it out flat and cook it like pizza.

- Hm.

- We're going to add our eggs.

- Hm.

- They're classic in matambres, and they add a bit of creaminess to it, and they look terrific.

So we're going to put these about three inches up from the bottom of the roast, and you can see why in a second.

So now I'm going to start rolling.

You want to cinch it pretty closely.

Have you ever made... you've made a jelly roll cake... - Many times, yes.

- Yeah.

- So you want to use it and cinch it up so all the ingredients stay tight.

And if the eggs start popping out, you just want to... - Here, I'll do this, that's my job.

- Yeah, push it back in.

And there we go.

Of course, we can't leave it that way, right?

- You have to tie it.

- Yep, we got to tie it.

So I think probably about eight pieces of twine will do this.

But you want to slide it underneath, and I always start in the middle when I'm tying it and then work the way outward.

So that way, it keeps everything even.

So, we're all tied up at this point.

It's looking good and even.

Now you can go back and just trim the excess string off.

You can use kitchen shears, too, if you'd like.

Voilà.

- Okay, I'm impressed.

I'm not always impressed, but that's impressive.

- It looks pretty good.

- Looks like you do this professionally.

- We're going to put it on a foil-lined baking tray with a wire rack on it.

Helps it not stew in its juices.

If you put it directly on a roasting tray, that bottom would sort of steam.

(groans lifting matambre) And now we're going to do the final, final bit before we bake.

We're going to brush it with one-and-a-half tablespoons of olive oil, which will help it bake up with a nice gloss to it.

Looks beautiful, Chris.

Now it's ready to bake.

We're going to bake it on the lower middle rack in a 350-degree oven until it hits 135 degrees.

It's about an hour and a half to two hours.

We're going to take it to 135 because there's going to be a lot of carry-over cooking.

It's a huge piece of meat.

And we're going to let it rest about 30 to 60 minutes before we cut it.

♪ ♪ - If you're asking me to give you a compliment, it looks great.

- Well, thank you.

- I could tell that's what you wanted.

It does look great.

- It does.

- I bet it tastes great, too.

- I think so.

So let's go ahead and carve it up.

It's rested for 45 minutes... - Okay.

- And should be ready to go.

Just use the tongs here to pull the twine off.

You know, when you're carving a roast like this, leave the twine on until you get to that spot you're carving and it'll help really hold it together.

- That's a good idea.

- So I'll just take those first two pieces off.

It's looking good.

- Mmm.

- Have a plate there.

- Mmm.

So I have to say, there are times when you want the quick pasta, Tuesday night, but at the holidays, it is worth the time, because it also has to look good.

Not that, you know, I care about being impressive, but I'm sure it's going to taste great, too.

But it looks good, tastes great, right?

- Absolutely.

You know, let's, uh... let's get into it.

I'd like a little more chimichurri here.

That, remember, we put the chimichurri in the fridge while the roast cooked.

Is that enough?

- No.

- No?

Okay.

- Thank you.

- There you go.

This really is a looker.

Mmm.

- The chimichurri really is nice with the pork, you know?

With the filling, chimichurri, mmm.

- There's so much going on.

You get the different textures, you get sweet, sour.

Wow, it's everything in one roast.

- Everything you've always wanted from a roast?

- (laughing): Yeah.

Mmm.

And I can guarantee you, leftover sandwiches the next day beat turkey.

- Excellent.

So next time you want a spectacular holiday centerpiece that looks great and tastes great, you might try this, an Argentinian-style stuffed pork roast or pork loin.

We started with a four-pound pork loin, we butterflied it like a book, as you said.

We used a spice mix.

We also made a chimichurri sauce, a little bit of that sauce on the inside.

And then we had our filling, which... We had hard-boiled eggs, we had some red peppers, some olives, etc.

Rolled that up, roasted it for an hour-and-a-half to two hours.

And when it was finished, came out of the oven, we let it sit to come up to temperature-- and we also like to let meat sit before we slice it-- and served it with the remaining chimichurri sauce.

And that's our Argentinian-style stuffed pork roast, which we think is great any time of year, but especially at the holidays.

♪ ♪ Well, now we can announce we found the ancestor to pecan pie.

- Mm-hmm.

- In the Dordogne region of France, which is in the southwest part of France, they have a lot of walnuts.

They make a tarte aux noix, which is a walnut tart, and the concept is bitter walnuts with caramel, which is similar to pecan pie.

But I think it has an advantage, which is, the bitterness of the nuts really offsets the caramel.

- Yeah.

- Whereas in pecan pie, pecans are sweet, so there's not as much contrast.

- Mm-hmm.

- So let's do it with walnuts.

- And a lot of the recipes that we found actually sort of just made it like a caramel filling, and it baked in the oven and it didn't really get dark enough.

So we're actually going to make our caramel on the stovetop to get more bitterness out to really pair nicely with the walnuts.

- Okay.

- The first thing we're going to do is make the crust.

And for our crust, we're actually going to use some whole wheat flour.

So we're going to start with two-thirds-cup all-purpose flour.

This a third of a cup whole wheat flour.

We're going to add three tablespoons of sugar and a half-teaspoon kosher salt.

And we're going to process this just to combine it, about five seconds.

(processor whirring) Okay, now we're going to add our butter.

Six tablespoons of salted butter.

It's well chilled.

It's cut into half-inch cubes.

I'm going to sprinkle this on top.

- I notice that your cubes of butter are perfect.

That's so Erika.

Like, it's just perfect.

- I like to think that I'm perfect.

- As a professional baker, you definitely are.

- We're just going to pulse this into the mixture until it's coarse and sandy-looking.

And it's going to take about ten to 12 pulses.

(processor pulsing) Looks great to me.

So you can see it looks like coarse sand.

And now the last two ingredients, we're going to add just one egg yolk and one teaspoon vanilla extract.

And believe it or not, that's enough liquid ingredients to actually bring this dough together.

So it's essentially like a shortbread crust.

And you process this till it just comes together.

You don't want it to form a big ball in there.

You just want it to stay crumbly, because that's going to make it easier for us to pat into the pan when we're done.

It's about 20 to 30 seconds.

(processor whirring) ♪ ♪ All right, that looks great.

So you can see it's still crumbly, but it's completely combined.

We have a nine-inch fluted tart pan here, and you can see we've misted it with some cooking spray.

That just helps prevent the crust from sticking.

Just going to sprinkle this.

So there's no rolling out.

- Yes... - Yeah, I knew you were going to say that.

- We're excited.

- I know.

This is such a great, easy crust recipe.

I'm just going to break this up so it's more evenly distributed.

Then I'm going to pat... you can either use your fingers...

I kind of like to use my fingers to get an even layer.

And I'm going to use that measuring cup to smooth it out.

So I'm making sure that it's even in the middle, and I'm sort of pushing some dough up onto the sides, because obviously we want to have sides to contain our filling.

And then I just use this.

And I'm just smoothing it out and then, again, working it towards the edges.

Again, I'm getting the edge corner into the corner of the tart pan so you can see that it's, you know, a nice even layer throughout.

And the last thing I like to do, just to, to neaten it up a little bit, is, I just use my finger and push down the top edge so that it's flush with the edge of the tart pan.

And the other great thing about this recipe is, we're not going to line it with weights or foil, because the shortbread crust, it doesn't slump or sink.

It just stays where it's supposed to be.

But we do want to... we call docking, and you're just going to poke it with the tines of a fork.

And that helps to prevent any air bubbles from forming.

And that's it.

So, Chris, now all we have to do is put this into the freezer to set up and firm.

It takes about 15 to 30 minutes.

And while that's chilling, we're going to get started on our filling.

Okay, so we're ready to make our caramel for the filling.

And to do that, we're going to start with a quarter-cup of water.

I like to add this first into the saucepan.

I want to avoid getting any sugar crystals on the edge of the pan, because that can increase the risk of crystallization.

This is a half a cup of sugar.

I'm going to pour it carefully into the center of the pan.

And we're also going to add a quarter-cup of honey.

Not only does it add a really nice flavor, but it also is extra insurance against crystallization.

Okay, we're going to cook this over medium heat.

(burner igniter clicks) Now, you can see, Chris, it's starting to color.

- Now, you do what I do, which is, when it starts getting dark, you take it off the heat a little bit and swirl it.

- It's easier for me to see the color of the... yeah.

- But taking it off heat also slows it down.

- Yeah, exactly.

And now it's starting to smoke, so I definitely know it's ready.

I'm going to turn off the heat and, quickly, I'm going to add here our other ingredients.

This is a third of a cup of crème fraîche.

(caramel sizzles) Traditional caramel recipes will use heavy cream.

But crème fraîche adds, again, like, a really nice nuttiness that goes really well with this filling.

Gonna add four tablespoons of salted butter.

And I'm whisking, melt the butter.

This is a tablespoon of cider vinegar, which enhances the sweetness and gives it a nice bright flavor.

And then, lastly, just a quarter-teaspoon of kosher salt.

- Well, the vinegar cuts the sweetness a little bit, right?

I mean, it sort of balances out the sweetness.

- It does.

I mean, it's still the caramel...

The predominant flavor certainly is going to be sweet, because of all the sugar that's in there, but it really does brighten it, and it enhances the flavor.

And I'm just going to whisk until the butter is all melted and everything is combined.

Now we're just going to go ahead and let this cool for 30 minutes.

And while that's cooling, and as soon as our tart shell is done chilling, I'm going to pop that into a 325-degree oven.

The rack is set in the lower middle position, and that needs to bake for about 30 minutes.

♪ ♪ Okay, Chris, our crust looks gorgeous.

- If you say so yourself.

- I think...

I'm very proud.

It's been cooling for five minutes, and now we're ready to finish up our filling.

- Okay.

- And we have our caramel here that's been cooling for 30 minutes.

It's still a little bit warm, and all we're going to add to this are two egg yolks.

So the eggs yolks are a nice addition.

Keep this kind of nice and custardy and smooth.

So now we're going to add our walnuts.

Here we have two-and-a-half cups of walnuts.

And you can see we've coarsely chopped these.

We've also lightly toasted these.

I'm just going to stir these into the caramel.

You can see it's great, we have just enough of that caramel to coat the nuts and bind them together.

Once that's all mixed, I'm just going to transfer this to the tart shell.

You want to make sure you scrape every last yummy bit of caramel sauce.

And now I'm just going to gently press the nuts into an even layer, into the corners.

Now it's just going to go back in that same 325-degree oven.

It's going to bake between 25 and 35 minutes.

♪ ♪ Okay, so this baked for 30 minutes.

I baked it till it was set on the edges, but it still jiggled in the center.

- Now, is the center an inch?

Is the center two inches?

What do you mean by the center?

- To me, the center is approximately, like, a five-inch circle, and it's quite in the center.

So the edges are maybe two inches around... - Okay.

- Then you've got the... yeah.

And that's why we give a pretty wide cooking range for this recipe, because you do want to start checking it at the 25-minute mark and keep checking it until it gets to right to that point.

- Okay.

- Because we don't want to overbake it.

So it's been cooling for an hour and we're going to be ready to serve.

First I'm just going to gently pop out the tart ring.

And I really love how the nuts on the top sort of that poke out get that nice brown color.

- I particularly love the fact that I'm about to eat it.

- And, you know, we're eating this warm, but you could eat this also at room temperature.

It's just as good.

- Should I put some salt on it now?

- Yeah, I was about to do that.

You were just getting too excited.

- I was getting excited.

- I'm going to sprinkle this with a little Maldon sea salt, just for a little bit of extra flavor.

And this is unsweetened whipped cream.

- You noticed Erika took this right out of my hands and took back control.

She doesn't... she doesn't like giving up control.

- So, go ahead, ready to eat.

- Oh!

Wow.

- Mmm.

- This is so different than pecan pie.

I mean, the vinegar, I think, is really important, because it does cut the sweetness and gives you a different flavor profile.

I mean, pecan pie is great, but pecans are sweet, the filling's sweet.

- Right.

- It's sort of sweet on sweet, it's delicious.

This... it's almost savory and sweet, right?

- Yeah, and I think that's because there're so many nuts to the amount of filling.

And I think that helps.

And I also like that you've got a deep caramel flavor to the filling, but it's not thick or chewy.

It's still nice and soft and custardy.

- Mmm, this is really spectacular.

So from southwest France, the Dordogne region, we have a French walnut tart, pretty much similar to what we found.

We add a couple of egg yolks just to make the caramel a little softer, and put as many walnuts as we possibly could into that tart.

You can get this recipe, a French walnut tart, and all the recipes from this season at MilkStreetTV.com.

All episodes and recipes from this season of Milk Street Television are available for free at our website, MilkStreetTV.com.

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Order your copy of the Milk Street cookbook for $23.95, 40% less than the cover price, and receive a Milk Street tote with your order at no additional charge.

Call 855-MILK-177, or order online.

- Funding for this series was provided by the following.

- Ferguson's proud to support Milk Street and culinary crusaders everywhere.

For more information on our extensive collection of kitchen products, we're on the web at fergusonshowrooms.com.

- For 25 years, Consumer Cellular has been offering no-contract wireless plans designed to help people do more of what they like.

Our U.S.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits you.

To learn more, visit ConsumerCellular.tv.

- Since 1899, my family has shared our passion for everything that goes into our Mutti 100% Italian tomatoes.

Only tomatoes.

Only Mutti.

- Designed by cooks for cooks for over 100 years.

Cookware collection by Regal Ware.

Handcrafted in Wisconsin.

- The AccuSharp knife and tool sharpener, designed to safely sharpen knives in seconds.

AccuSharp: Keep your edge.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪