I have been having so much fun teaching classes at Prep Kitchen Essentials!  They have a wonderful store, staff, and kitchen…plus they do all the dishes for me!  What more could a girl ask for!  These past two weeks I have taught two classes there. The first class was “Elegant Italian Entrees”.  Yes, although I am a pastry chef I do really enjoy cooking food too and love sharing my passion for it with others.  This was a great class with a lot of fabulous food.  The menu for the night was Italian Herb & Cheese Pork Rolls, Prosciutto Wrapped Chicken with Homemade Pesto, Parmesan Chicken Over Angel Hair Pasta with Pine Nuts, Feta Cheese, and Tomatoes, and Grilled Cilantro Lime Shrimp with Saffron Orzo.  

My favorite of the night was definitely the Italian Herb & Cheese Pork Rolls, so I thought I’d share the recipe with you!

Italian Herb & Cheese Rolls

adapted from Fiamma

Makes 4 servings

One 1 1/2 pound boneless pork tenderloin, cut on the extreme diagonal into 12 slices

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese

1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh sage

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 cup dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio

Lightly pound the pork slices until they are 1/4″ thick.  Season with salt and pepper.  Mix the Pecorino, sage, rosemary, and garlic together in a box and then sprinkle 1 teaspoon of herb mix on each pork slice.  Then roll each slice into a cylinder and secure with a toothpick.  Season the rolls with salt and pepper.

Place the flour in a flat bowl and then lightly coat the pork rolls with flour, patting to remove the excess. 

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat until hot.  Add the rolls and cook until browned all over, about 3-5 minutes.  Pour in the wine, cover, and simmer until the rolls are cooked through, 3-5 minutes more.  Transfer to a plate and loosely cover with aluminum foil.

Boil the cooking liquid until it reduces to a thick sauce, about 5 minutes.  Return the rolls to the skillet and shake the pan to coat them with sauce.  Serve with any remaining sauce spooned over them.

The second class I taught was a “Basic Cake Decorating Class”.  I taught how to split, fill, and frost a layer cake.  I also went over a variety of frostings and their uses and we played around with fondant too.  As you can see from the photos we weren’t trying to turn out the perfectly decorated cake, but rather practice techniques.  Everyone seemed to have a great time and hopefully they learned a lot too!  This weekend I have my cupcake class…should be a lot of fun!