Roast pork with baked apples and stuffing
Pork & gammon
Roast pork with baked apples and stuffing
If you don't rate your chances of creating a stuffed joint, you can cook the stuffing separately, under a few rashers of bacon.
Ingredients
main
- 900g or 1.1kg pork leg or shoulder joint
- 1 heaped tbsp fresh sage, chopped
- ½ lemon, zested
- 50g butter
- 6 crunchy new season eating apples
- 1 tsp plain flour
- 600ml chicken, pork or veg stock
for the stuffing
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 25g butter
- 100g fresh white breadcrumbs
- ½ lemon, zested
- 1 heaped tbsp fresh sage, chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh curly parsley. chopped
- 1 small egg, beaten
- 6 rashers streaky bacon
Method
main
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Step 1
Preheat oven to 220°C/Gas Mark 7. Sprinkle the skinless side of the pork with sage and lemon zest, then season. Salt the skin and put in a lightly greased roasting tin, skin-side-up. Roast for 20 minutes.
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Step 2
Reduce the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4 and roast for another hour (it's the same whether you have the 900g or 1.1kg joint).
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Step 3
Meanwhile,
for the stuffing
-
Step 1
, fry the onion gently in the butter until soft and lightly browned. Tip into a bowl and stir in the breadcrumbs, zest, sage and parsley. Season to taste. Stir in the egg, then spoon into a lightly buttered, shallow ovenproof dish and rough up the surface with a fork. Cover with the rashers of bacon and set aside.
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Step 2
30 minutes before the pork is ready, peel, core and quarter the apples. Melt the butter in a medium-sized pan, add the apples, season and toss gently, then place around the pork and return to the oven.
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Step 3
At this point the stuffing can go in too; it will need around 20 minutes or so. When the pork is cooked, remove from the oven and rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave the stuffing in the oven to keep warm, along with the apples (put them in a dish alongside).
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Step 4
Make the gravy in the normal way: spoon the excess fat from the roasting tin and put the tin over a medium heat on the hob. Stir in the flour and gradually stir in the stock, scraping up all the juices from the base as you go. Bring to the boil and simmer until thickened. Add whatever flavourings you like; my preference is for a tiny dash of vinegar, 1 teaspoon of Cumberland sauce and ½ teaspoon of Dijon mustard. Season and strain into a gravy boat.
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Step 5
Remove the string from the pork, slide a knife under the crackling and lift it off. If it hasn't really crackled, flash it under the grill. Carve the meat and serve with the trimmings.
