Serves 4-6

Prep time

20 mins, cook 1 hr (plus resting, cooling)

Ingredients

• 1.8 kg piece of pork loin
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 small pink lady apples, unpeeled, halved horizontally
• 200 gm peeled chestnuts
• 12 shallots
• ½ cup (loosely packed) sage leaves
• 350 ml dry cider

Apple and sage stuffing

• 20 ml olive oil
• 10 gm butter
• 4 shallots, finely chopped
• 4 pink lady apples, unpeeled, coarsely chopped
• 125 ml dry cider
• 50 ml cider vinegar
• 20 gm caster sugar
• 2 tbsp coarsely torn sage leaves

Method

1. Preheat oven to 250C.

2. For apple and sage stuffing, heat oil and butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat, add shallot, stir occasionally until tender (4-5 minutes). Add apple, cider, vinegar and sugar, stir occasionally until apple is tender and mixture is thick (8-10 minutes). Season to taste, stir through sage, cool.

3. Score pork skin with a sharp knife at 5mm intervals. Place skin-side down on a work surface, spread stuffing along longest side closest to you, then roll away from you to form a cylinder. (Reserve extra stuffing to serve.)

4. Tie at intervals with kitchen string, place in a roasting pan, drizzle with oil, season to taste.

5. Scatter apple, chestnuts, shallots and sage around base, add cider, season to taste, roast until crackling starts to form (30 minutes), reduce heat to 150C, cook until just cooked through (12-15 minutes).

6. Rest for 5 minutes, thickly slice and serve with apples, chestnuts, shallots, pan juices and remaining stuffing.

Recipe by Emma Knowles, Gourmet Traveller Magazine June 2009