There is something wonderfully classic about pork and apple, but this version takes that familiar combination a little further.
The pork loin is filled with Granny Smith apple, prune, fresh ginger, sage and lemon, giving you sweetness, acidity and just a little warmth from the ginger. It is then pan-grilled and served with buttery chat potatoes and asparagus before we use the same pan to create a rich veal jus finished with caramelised black garlic.
It looks like a restaurant dish, but everything comes together in one pan.
One-pan cooking at its very best — maximum flavour, minimum washing up.
Serves: 2
Difficulty: Medium
Cooking Style: One-pan cooking / Pan grilled
Best For: Dinner for two • Entertaining • Weekend cooking
Combine the finely diced Granny Smith apple, prunes, ginger and chopped sage in a bowl.
Add the juice of ½ lemon and mix well.
Set aside a small amount of the mixture to use later in the sauce.
Using a sharp knife, carefully make an incision into the side of each pork loin steak to create a pocket.
Take care not to cut all the way through.
Fill each pocket generously with the apple and prune mixture. Secure the opening with a toothpick if required.
Season the outside of the pork with Olsson’s Sea Salt and freshly ground Spice Lab Mélange of Peppercorns.
Heat a heavy-based frying pan or cast-iron grill pan over high heat.
Add the pork and sear well, allowing it to develop good colour and caramelisation.
Reduce the heat and continue cooking for approximately 8–10 minutes, turning as required, or until the pork is cooked through.
Remove from the pan and allow to rest while you cook the vegetables.
Add the sliced chat potatoes to the same pan and season with salt and pepper.
Cook until golden and tender, turning as necessary.
Add the asparagus spears and grill until just tender while still retaining some bite.
Squeeze over the juice from the remaining ½ lemon, add the butter and baste the potatoes and asparagus well in the foaming lemon butter.
Remove the vegetables from the pan and keep warm.
Keeping all those lovely cooking flavours in the pan, add:
Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently until the fruit has softened and the sauce is hot, glossy and full of flavour.
Taste and adjust the seasoning if required.
Arrange the sliced chat potatoes through the centre of each plate.
Place the stuffed pork on top of the potatoes at a slight angle, allowing the filling to remain visible.
Position the asparagus alongside the pork.
Pour the black garlic, apple and prune jus into a small serving jug.
Rather than covering the pork with sauce, pour a little jus around the plate and serve the remainder in the jug. This keeps those beautiful grill marks and the stuffed pork as the hero of the dish.
Finish with a fresh sprig of thyme.
Pork fillet works beautifully here.
Cut the fillet into portions and carefully flatten between sheets of baking paper using a meat mallet, similar to preparing a schnitzel.
Spread the apple and prune mixture over the pork, then roll tightly into a cylinder.
This is now a roulade.
Secure if necessary and cook in the pan using the same method as the pork loin.
A thick bone-in pork cutlet can also be used. Carefully cut a pocket into the meat without cutting through to the bone, fill and cook as above.
Allow additional cooking time depending on the thickness of the cutlet.
Chicken breast is another excellent alternative. Cut a pocket into the thickest part of the breast, fill with the apple and prune mixture and secure if necessary before pan cooking.
Always ensure chicken is completely cooked through before serving.
Add toasted pine nuts to the apple and prune mixture for extra texture and nuttiness.
Make a fine farce. Instead of leaving the filling chunky, process the apple, prune, ginger and sage mixture in a food processor or blender until fine. Transfer it to a piping bag and pipe it neatly into the pork pocket.
Change the herbs. Thyme can be incorporated into the filling, while sage can be used as the final garnish.
Make it more fruit-forward. A little extra diced apple can be reserved specifically for the jus, giving the finished sauce more texture and fresh apple character.
Use a small, sharp knife and work slowly into the centre of the pork. You are creating a pocket rather than butterflying the meat, so try to leave the top, bottom and opposite side intact.
A smaller opening also helps keep the filling inside during cooking.
Start with a hot pan to create colour and flavour on the outside of the pork.
Once you have achieved that sear, reduce the heat. Leaving the pan on full heat for the entire cooking time risks burning the exterior before the centre is properly cooked.
Just like a steak, pork benefits from resting after cooking. This allows the heat to distribute through the meat and helps retain the juices when it is cut.
Those caramelised bits left behind after cooking the pork and vegetables are flavour.
Adding the veal jus directly to the same pan captures those flavours rather than washing them down the sink.
This is one of the foundations of good sauce making.
Use a cast-iron grill pan with raised grooves if you have one. It will give the pork those attractive restaurant-style sear marks.
Don't overcrowd the filling. You want plenty inside the pork, but overfilling makes the pocket difficult to close and encourages the mixture to escape during cooking.
Keep some filling aside. Don't forget to reserve a little apple and prune mixture before stuffing the raw pork. It becomes part of the finished sauce.
Watch the asparagus. It needs very little cooking. Keep some bite and colour rather than cooking it until soft.
Use the one pan. Pork, potatoes, asparagus and sauce all benefit from the flavours left behind by the ingredient cooked before them.
Less washing up is simply a bonus.
Several of the ingredients in this recipe are products we use and recommend through the Underground Chef's Pantry.
Olsson’s Sea Salt — clean Australian sea salt for seasoning the pork and vegetables.
Spice Lab Mélange of Peppercorns — brings a more complex pepper flavour than standard ground black pepper.
Bone Roasters Veal Jus — gives you the foundation for a restaurant-style sauce without spending hours making and reducing veal stock.
Cypress Ridge Caramelised Black Garlic — just a small amount adds a deep, sweet, savoury black-garlic character to the jus without overpowering the apple and prune.
Fluicer - keeps citrus prep simple.
This is exactly what good pantry ingredients should do: make great cooking easier without taking away from the cooking itself.
The apple and prune mixture can be prepared earlier in the day and refrigerated in a covered container.
The pork can also be stuffed several hours ahead, covered and refrigerated until required.
Remove it from the refrigerator before cooking so it is not going directly from very cold storage into the hot pan.
The potatoes can be sliced ahead, but keep them submerged in cold water to prevent discolouration. Drain and dry them thoroughly before cooking.
Yes. Stuff it earlier in the day, cover and refrigerate until required.
Not necessarily. If the pocket holds together comfortably, leave it as is. If the filling wants to escape, a toothpick will keep everything secure while cooking. Remember to remove it before serving.
Its natural acidity balances the sweetness of the prunes and richness of the pork and jus. It also holds its character better during cooking than a very sweet apple.
You have taken the time to create colour, caramelisation and possibly grill marks on the pork. Hiding all of that beneath sauce takes away from the presentation. Sauce the plate and let the pork remain the hero.
Yes. A good-quality reduced chicken or pork stock can be used, although the finished sauce will be lighter and may need further reduction to achieve the same richness.
This dish is a good example of what Kitchen Confidence is really about.
We're taking familiar ingredients — pork, apple, potatoes and asparagus — and using a few professional techniques to turn them into something that feels quite special.
Stuffing the pork, creating a proper sear, resting the meat, basting the vegetables and building a sauce from the same pan aren't complicated techniques individually.
Once you put them together, however, you have a restaurant-style plate you can confidently reproduce at home.
And you only have one pan to wash.