Pork Loin Stuffed With Fresh and Dried Apples

Reprinted with permission from An Apple Harvest: Recipes & Orchard Lore by Frank Browning and Sharon Silva, copyright © 1999, 2010. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House.

• Servings: 8.

From An Apple Harvest, Recipes & Orchard Lore by Frank Browning and Sharon Silva.  Published by Ten Speed Press.

Ingredients

• Stuffing:
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped yellow onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon peeled and minced fresh ginger
• 2 Granny Smith, Newtown Pippin, or other tart green apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
• 1 cup chopped dried apples
• 3 tablespoons dried currants
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh sage
• 1 cup dry hard cider
• Salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• Pork Loin:
• 1 boneless pork loin, 4 to 5 pounds, butterflied
• Coarse sea salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• About 6 sprigs sage

Directions

1. To make the stuffing, warm the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and ginger and sauté for about 5 minutes, or until the onion is translucent.
2. Add the fresh apples and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes, or until they begin to take on color. Add the dried apples, currants, and chopped sage and stir well. Pour in the cider, raise the heat to medium-high, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cider is absorbed, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, remove from the heat, and let cool for about 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400°F.
4. To stuff and roast the pork loin, lay the pork loin flat on a work surface and spread the cooled stuffing evenly over the meat. Roll up the loin into its original shape and, using kitchen string, tie at even intervals, pushing back any stuffing that tries to escape from the ends. Season the loin with coarse salt and pepper and tuck the sage sprigs under the strings. Place in a roasting pan.
5. Roast for about 1 1/2 hours, until the meat is pale pink when the loin is cut into at the thickest point or an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest point registers 145°F to 150°F.
6. Transfer the pork loin to a cutting board and let stand for about 10 minutes before carving, then snip the strings and cut into slices.