UNBELIEVABLE ROAST PORK WITH STUFFED APPLES AND PARSNIPS

UNBELIEVABLE ROAST PORK WITH STUFFED APPLES AND PARSNIPS image

Categories Pork

Yield 6 people

Number Of Ingredients 14

Ingredients

1/2 a pork loin, rib-end
6 large parsnips, peeled and
cut lengthways
6 small red onions, peeled
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 handfuls of fresh sage,
leaves picked
1 heaped teaspoon
ground allspice
1/2 a nutmeg, grated
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
zest of 1 orange
150g/51/2oz butter, softened
6 good eating apples

Steps:

Preheat your oven to 220C/425F/gas 7. Sometimes the fat in pork can be too thick and never goes crisp. So ask your butcher to score through the skin about 1cm/1/2 inch apart then remove it from the loin. You want to try to leave about 0.5cm/1/4 inch of fat on the loin, and score this across so it goes nice and crisp when you cook it. Season the skin well and place on a tray in the oven to start crackling - this will take around 15-20 minutes, depending on how moist the skin is. Remove when golden and crisp and put to one side. Meanwhile parboil your parsnips and red onions in boiling, salted water for about 5 minutes. In a pestle and mortar (or in a metal bowl using the end of a rolling pin) bash up the sage, allspice, nutmeg, garlic and orange zest with a good pinch of salt and pepper until you have a fine powder. Put the mixture into a bowl with your butter, then mix it all up well. Run a knife around the middle of each apple - this will stop them bursting when they cook. Remove the core with a peeler without piercing right through the apple (see picture opposite) and discard. Pack your flavoured butter into the cavity of each apple where the core was - any excess butter can be smeared all over the pork loin. Place the apples in the tray, butter side facing down, with the parboiled parsnips and red onions. Put the pork on top and place in the oven for 1 hour. After half an hour, take the tray out of the oven, remove the pork to a plate, and carefully toss the onion and parsnips in all the lovely cooking juices, trying not to disrupt the apples. Put the pork back on top and continue cooking for half an hour at 180?C/350F/gas 4 until nice and golden. When done, remove the pork from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before slicing. Turn the oven off, but keep the veggies and crackling warm in the oven until you're ready to serve. Carve the pork and divide between your 6 plates with the veggies and an apple each.