Crown Roast of Pork with Apple Stuffing

Christmas dinner this year was a Crown Pork roast. We don't make it very often because it's a lot of food for two people. We had the butcher make up the smallest roast he could, it ended up with 10 ribs and about 7-½ pounds. For this meal I started with a recipe from Gourmet back in 2005, but changed a lot to suit our taste. I hope you enjoy this roast and the Sweet Oranges with Kumquats from "Farmhouse" with it.

INGREDIENTS:

For stuffing

3/4 lb lean ground pork
1 large Shallot
½ apple
½ stick butter
3 Tbsp Bells' Poultry Seasoning
1 tsp black pepper
½ lb fresh Pullman loaf, pain de mie, or country loaf
1 rib finely chopped celery
1 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth

For roast
7 to 8 lb Crown pork roast, rib ends frenched.
1 tsp dry sage
1 tsp marjoram or thyme
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups water
Farmhouse Oranges and Kumquats

For sauce
1/4 cup dry white wine
3/4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 tsp cornstarch, dissolved in 1 Tbsp water
1 Tbsp cold butter

PREPARATION:

Stuffing:
Peel the shallot and chop finely. Dice the bread into 1-inch cubes. Clean, wash and dice the celery into ¼" pieces. Wash, peel and dice the apple ½" cubes.

Set a large heavy skillet over moderate heat, when the rim is hot add 1/2 stick butter, melt then add the shallot and celery, cook stirring occasionally, until tender, about 10 minutes. Add the ground pork, continuing to cook, stirring frequently, until the pork is no longer pink, about 10 minutes more. Add the Bells', apple and pepper mix well, cook and stir 5 minutes. Add 1 cup of chicken broth bring to a boil, add the bread crumbs stirring occasionally, until the stuffing thickens and the liquid absorbs, then remove from heat. If the stuffing is too juicy, add more bread cubes, too dry add more chicken broth.
The roast:

Roast:
Add the sage, marjoram and pepper to a small mill and grind together. Pat the roast dry with paper towels and lightly spray it with an olive oil mist, then sprinkle the spices over outside and bottom of roast.

Put roast in a small flameproof roasting pan cover the rib tips with foil to keep from burning. Add water to pan.

Put oven rack in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 350°F.

COOKING:

Roast pork in lower third of oven for 2 hours at 350°F. If pan becomes dry add a little water.

Remove the roast and mound stuffing loosely in center, cover the stuffing and tips of ribs with a sheet of foil. Return the roast to the oven for 30 minutes. Then place the remaining stuffing in a buttered baking dish cover with foil and put it in the oven with the roast. Continue roasting until thermometer inserted 2 inches into center of meat (do not touch bones) registers 155-160°F about 2 1/2 to 3 hours total.

Remove the roast when it is done. Take the foil off the remaining stuffing and bake for another 15 min. until top browns just a little.

Transfer pork to a platter and let stand 20 minutes. While it stands, garnish with kale leaves decorated with Farmhouse Oranges and Kumquats in sweet syrup.

Optional sauce (while pork stands:)

Put the roasting pan one a burner, then add wine to pan and boil over high heat, stirring and scraping up brown bits, until reduced by about half, about 5 minutes. Add broth, pan juices, and any juices on platter from roast and bring to a simmer. Re-stir cornstarch mixture and add to pan, whisking, then simmer 2 minutes. Add butter and swirl pan until incorporated. Season with pepper.
Serve the pork roast with stuffing and sauce and carve at the table.

Adapted from: Gourmet December 2005