Serves 8
What you need:
For the stuffing:
300ml/½ pint cider
3 tablespoons pine nuts
2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
1kg/2lb dried apricots
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 egg yolks
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For the pork:
2kg/4lb loin of pork
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
What you do:
For the stuffing
Marinate the dried apricots in a glass bowl in the cider overnight. Drain the apricots. Heat the olive oil in a medium pan and sauté the pine nuts until light gold. Add the apricots, breadcrumbs and black pepper. Add the egg yolk to bind the stuffing
For the pork
Place the saddle, fat side down, on the work surface, cut between the fat and meat of the loin and remove any excess fat from the flap. Spread the meat and flap, showing a pocket. Spread the stuffing along the meat filling between the meat and fat. Roll up the loin tightly and tie with fine string. Sprinkle with salt and pepper as the joint is cooking. Cook at 190°C/375°F/Gas mark 5 for 1½ hours.
Supplied by James Kehoe, The Lord Bagenal Inn, Carlow, for the 1995 Happy Heart Eat Out campaign.