Stuffed pork loin with crackling

ingredients

• For the stuffing

  • 2 onions, finely diced
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 200 gram chicken livers, membranes removed, roughly chopped
  • 200 gram pork mince
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 12 fresh sage leaves, roughly chopped
  • 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • grind of pepper
  • 200 millilitre red wine

• Stuffed pork loin with crackling

  • 3.5 kilogram deboned pork loin, skin on (ask butcher for smaller if you have fewer people)
  • 1 teaspoon salt, plus extra
  • 2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 3 tablespoon olive oil
  • kitchen twine, for tying
  • 8 carrots, peeled

method

• For the stuffing

  • 1

    Preheat oven to 250°C fan bake.

  • 2

    For the stuffing, gently fry the onion in the olive oil. When soft, add the chicken livers and pork mince. Break up the mince and cook for about 10 minutes.

  • 3

    Add the pine nuts, raisins, sage and parsley, then season with salt and pepper.

  • 4

    Stir in ¼ cup wine and simmer for another minute before taking off the heat to cool. It doesn’t need to be cooked through at this stage as it will also cook more when roasted.

• Stuffed pork loin with crackling

  • 1

    Lay the pork, skin-side down, on a board and season well with 1 tsp of the salt, pepper and a little of the olive oil, massaging it into the meat.

  • 2

    Spoon the stuffing down the middle of the opened loin. Have your twine ready – either one arm’s length piece or 4-6 shorter strands. Roll the meat up quite tightly and tie firmlyto hold it all in place.

  • 3

    Pat the skin dry with a paper towel, drizzle with more olive oil and 1 tsp salt. Lay the carrots in a roasting tray like a trivet and put the meat on top. Pour the remaining red wine and water around but not over the meat.

  • 4

    Cook for 10-15 minutes on a high temperature, then reduce oven to 170°C and cook for 2-2½ hours until golden and cooked through.

  • 5

    Rest the meat for 15-20 minutes before slicing into thick slices. To make it easier to cut, you can carefully remove the skin/crackling, breaking it up and serving it alongside the pork slices.

  • 6

    Serve with the carrots, a salad and any other trimmings you feel like for a gorgeous Christmas dinner.