Pesto Pork and Polenta
Foil-pouch pork, a dry pesto mix, and instant polenta in one pot.
- calories
- 760
- weight
- 5.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 138
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 1, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total time
- 15 min
- water
- 400 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Backpacking
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Gluten free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Shelf-stable pork in a foil pouch | 5 oz | pulled pork or chicken both work |
|---|---|---|
| Instant polenta | 1/2 cup | the 3-minute kind, not coarse stone-ground |
| Dried basil | 2 tbsp | stands in for 5 cups of fresh leaves |
| Toasted pine nuts | 2 tbsp | chopped fine at home |
| Grated hard parmesan | 1/4 cup | the dry shaker kind keeps for weeks |
| Garlic powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Sun-dried tomatoes | 2 tbsp | snipped into strips, not oil-packed |
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | dropper bottle |
| Salt and cracked pepper | 1/4 tsp each |
Method
- Boil 400 ml of water. Drop in the sun-dried tomatoes and let them sit off the heat for two minutes to soften.
- Bring it back to a simmer and rain in the polenta while stirring. Keep stirring; it seizes if you walk away.
- Three minutes on low heat, or until it pulls off the pot wall. Kill the stove.
- Stir in the basil, pine nuts, parmesan, garlic powder, and olive oil. That is the pesto, assembled in the pot.
- Fold in the pork straight from the pouch. Lid on for two minutes to warm it through, then salt and pepper to taste.
The original is a butterflied pork loin rolled around fresh pesto and roasted for twenty minutes. None of that survives a pack, so the roulade gets unrolled. Same four flavors, different order: pork from a foil pouch, and a pesto built dry from basil, pine nuts, parmesan, garlic, and oil, stirred in at the end instead of spread on raw meat.
Polenta replaces the plate. It gives the pesto something to cling to and turns a pouch of meat into a real dinner for about two ounces of extra weight. Add the cheese and oil after the heat is off — parmesan goes stringy and grainy if you boil it, and the oil carries more of the basil when it is not cooking off.
Packing
Polenta, basil, pine nuts, parmesan, garlic powder, tomatoes, salt, and pepper go in one bag at home. Pork pouch and oil bottle ride separately.
Variations
- Swap the pork for a foil pouch of salmon and cut the parmesan in half.
- No polenta? Instant mashed potato flakes take the same treatment off the heat.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/pork-roulade-with-tomatoes-and-pesto