Pork Roast Recipe
Most tender French recipe for pork roast in a Dutch oven or lidded enamel pot, cooked with rosemary, potatoes in a cider jus served with buttered apples on the side.
Equipment
- lidded enamel pot or Dutch oven
- non-stick frying pan
Ingredients
- 1 kg (2lb) pork shoulder or fillet (tenderloin) at room temperature * see NOTES
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 50 g (2oz/ ½ stick) butter, unsalted
- 500 g (1lb) potatoes washed, unpeeled, halved if large
- ½ teaspoon each of salt and pepper
- 300 ml (1 cup) dry cider 'cidre brut' (about 4% alcohol) otherwise unsweetened apple juice
- 500 g (1 lb) apples (Golden Delicious, Cox's Pippins) organic
Instructions
- Heat the oil and half the butter over a medium heat in an enamel pot that will fit the meat perfectly. Add a sprig of rosemary to the meat (wedging in the string) and chop up the rest of the herbs for later. Seize the meat on all sides. When brown, add the potatoes, the rest of the chopped rosemary and sauté until golden, tossing them around in the juices about 3 minutes.
- Glaze with the cidre and let it sizzle. Turn down the heat, cover and leave to simmer for 1½ hours (or cook in the oven at 170°C/150°C fan/350°F/Gas 3). Turn the meat and potatoes half way through cooking, basting the roast with the juices.
- 20 minutes before the end of cooking, wash, quarter and core the apples (peel if not organic). Cut each quarter into 2 slices. Melt the rest of the butter in a non-stick frying pan and sauté the apples for 6-8 minutes (keep your eye on them; no more than 10 otherwise they'll turn mushy) until golden.
- Pierce the centre of the pork with a skewer to check that no pink juices are left (juices should be clear). Remove the roast on to a chopping board and leave to rest for 5 minutes. Discard the layers of fat to discover a tender pork roast. Slice and serve on plates, surrounded by the cidre juice, potatoes and serve with the buttered apples.
Notes
To Serve: Serve on a large serving dish with the meat cut into slices (trimmed of fat) and surround with the potatoes and sliced apples.
Roast Pork: in France, the roast pork joint is lean but enveloped with fat and tied at intervals to keep it intact during cooking. If difficult to find, then cover your roast completely with streaky bacon and tie together with cooking string.
Variation: Just before the end of cooking, add a couple of tablespoons of crème fraîche or cream and reduce.
Nutrition per serving % daily value: total fat 25%, cholesterol 16%, dietary fibre 29%, total carbohydrate 16%, 8g protein.