Tuscans have a way with meat.
It is still quite popular to go to a rosticcieria, a place that serves and sells roast meats, spit-roasted, like pork, chicken and lamb and buy meats already cooked.
Not everyone can spit roast at home, hence the popularity of eating certain things out that cannot be done at home like spit-roasted meats, pizza, fried foods and a charcol grilled steak.
Every weekly market will have their rosticcieria truck and it always has a line.
At home, Italian mammas are famous for the home-style arrosto morto, cooked stovetop.Using the oven is hot and electricity is expensive, so using the gas stove, they have created a moist way to cook meats and keep the kitchen cool.
This is a boneless pork roast, called Arista. My friend Kyle has a great explanation of the technique and some history on his site. We are both blessed to have learned a lot from our fabulous mother-in-laws.
I cut a slit into the roast and filled it with a chopped fresh rosemary, lemon zest, garlic and salt mixture.
It flavors the roast from the inside out. I had this at the Teatro del Sale, Fabio Picchi’s restaurant/club in Florence and fell in love with the bright taste the lemon gives the pork.
Arrosto Morto is cooked in a saucepan with a lid, which sort of creates an oven.
Arrosto Morto
Make your aromatics: chop fresh rosemary, lemon zest and garlic finely. Add some sea salt.
Cut a slit into the pork roast, lengthwise, all the way through.
Place the aromatics in all the way– on both sides.
Cover the bottom of your sauce pan with olive oil, add two garlic cloves and a sprig of fresh rosemary.
Heat the oil, when hot, place the pork roast in the pan, searing well on both sides.
Add wine or water, about 1/2 cup, turn down heat and cover and let cook until done.
This piece took about 20 minutes. Turn once or twice while cooking.
Let sit before slicing and use the pan juices as sauce.
Perfect for summer “roasting” you may never use your oven again!
Or try the other quick roast technique I learned while working with Dario Cecchini, his Arrosto Fiorentino is a “go-to” recipe for parties.
About how much did that weigh? or does the weight not matter in this method of cooking?
it is not so much how much the meat weighs as the size of the roast.
it should be at room temp when you start to cook it.
it takes about 15 minutes to heat all the way through and then start to cook.
This probably took about 25- 30 minutes and was moist and cooked poerfectly.
I think most people overcook pork.
You can use a meat thermometer if you like-
Did it last night!DELICIOUS!MIne was not cooked all the way through but after leaving in the pot for a few more minutes it was perfecto!Very easy recipe………I will do again and again………THANK YOU!I even wore my apron from DARIO as I did it!
Smart– meat should always rest after cooking– and that does make it perfect and NOT overcooked!
I did the same
Oh my gosh I love this recipe! I shared it with the family yesterday and they were, literally, scrapping their plates with their mini toasted bread treats. I merged my primary pork roll character with a supportive cast of sweet corn and green peas tossed with fennel and sweet rosemary butter. The mini French bread flats toasted in olive oil and rosemary were topped with powdered and shredded parmesan cheese and were added, strategically, for smooth palate finishing. Simply divine is all I can say. Thank you, Judy, for the wonderful idea in working with pork. I will try it with chicken breast next time just to see what happens. Tuscan foods are here to stay!