Tapas Tuesday: Lomo de Orza

It’s no secret the Spaniards love their pork. Many years ago, they would preserve pork in olive oil and herbs in huge urns called orzas. Today, lomo de orza is served as a tapa. The preparation is a little unusual in that the pork is cooked before it’s marinated, mimicking the ancient preservation method. Since the meat has to marinate, you’ll have to prepare your lomo ahead of time, which makes it ideal for a dinner party since it can be served at room temperature. Make sure to pull it out of the fridge a half hour before you intend to serve it to let it warm up a bit.

Lomo is pork loin, which can be served roasted or cured like ham. For our tapa, we’ll use pork tenderloin or pork loin roast. Purchase the regular, unflavored meat. (Personally I don’t care for the pre-marinated stuff and I wish the meat industry would stop adding “up to 12% of solution”).

I grilled mine because I didn’t want to heat up the kitchen, but I usually pan fry this and use the pan juices as part of the marinade. I couldn’t find an unflavored pork tenderloin, so I purchased a pork loin roast and cut it in half. The other half was slipped into the freezer for another day.

This recipe, adapted from Top Spanish Tapas, is easy to adapt to any number of servings and your own taste. Add more garlic or substitute the herbs if you like. You could also add red pepper flake or onion to the marinade. It’s a simple recipe that delivers sunny, Mediterranean flavors. Serve with bread, olives, cheese and don’t forget the wine!

Ingredients for 6 – 8 servings:

• pork tenderloin, unflavored, about 1 1/2 pounds
• 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
• juice and zest of a lemon
• 2 – 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme (a couple sprigs)
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary (a couple sprigs)
• salt and pepper

Method:

1. Remove the pork from its packaging and rinse the bag juices off. Remove any silver skin, but don’t worry about trimming the fat. Cut the pork into thick slices (between 1/4 and 1/2 inch) and then cut each slice into half rounds.
2. Season both sides with salt and pepper.
3. Heat some olive oil in a frying pan and cook the pork over high heat for a few minutes on each side until they are a nice golden brown color. Reduce the heat to low and cook for another 10 – 15 minutes until cooked through but still moist.
4. While the pork is cooking, assemble the marinade. Pour the olive oil into a small mixing bowl. Zest the lemon and juice it into the olive oil. (If you don’t have a zesting tool, just use the juice). Peel and crush the garlic and add it. Finely chop the rosemary needles and thyme leaves and stir them into the other ingredients. Season with a little salt and pepper.
5. Transfer the cooked pork to the container you’re going to use for marinading. I use a gallon sized zip top plastic bag. Go ahead and add any juices from the pan. Pour the marinade over the pork and mix it all up. Place it in the refrigerator for at least four hours, the longer the better.
6. Arrange on a platter and drizzle the marinade over the top. If you have them, use toothpicks to serve the lomo.