First time we tried this dish we purchased it ready to cook from a local supermarket. As we liked it very much I decided to make it myself and it turned out really good.
It is easy to make and the ideal dish if you invite for a party. The recipe is enough for at least 6-8 persons.
I recommend to use pork neck as the fat keeps the meat juicy while cooking. If you don’t know how to cut the meat as a roll just ask your butcher to open it for you.
For best results, I also recommend to use a cooking thermometer to make sure that the meat is well cooked. It should have at least 81°C inside.
Last time I made this dish, we could even eat it as pulled pork as our invited guests were a bit late and I had to keep the meat warm in the oven forgetting to turn off the heat. So don’t worry, if the meat falls apart when cutting mix it with the gravy and serve it as a fruity pulled pork!
If you want you can cut the carrots into slices before adding to the meat and serve as a vegetable side dish together with the onions and figs.
If you don’t like a creamy sauce as in this recipe, just thicken the gravy with some flour.
My cooking tip: as in this recipe I use only 2 Tbsp of tomato paste you might wonder what to do with the rest, as most tomato pastes are only available in quite large cans. Simply add the remaining paste in an ice cube tray and freeze. You can store the tomato cubes in a container in the freezer and use when needed.
What you need:
2-2.5 kg pork neck roll
For the stuffing:
1 apple
5 dry apricots
5 dry figs
5 dry prunes
50 gr dry raisins
50 gr unsalted cashew nuts
50 gr cooked chestnuts
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1 Tbsp soy sauce
Salt
Pepper
Some olive oil to fry
For the sauce/gravy:
2 large carrots
1 large onion
5 dry figs
½ tsp coriander seeds
½ tsp cardamom seeds
1 laurel leaf
1 glass dry red wine
300 ml water
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
2 Tbsp parsley coarsely chopped
1Tbsp flour
100 ml cooking cream
How to prepare:
Cut the meat lengthwise. Salt and pepper the inside of the roll.
Mix the tomato paste with the soy sauce and spread evenly all the meat from inside.
Peel the apple and core the seeds. Cut the apple, apricots, figs, prunes, cashew nuts and chestnuts into raisin size pieces. Mix all fruits and spread over the meat evenly leaving about 4 cm at the edge on one of the small sides.
Roll up the meat from the one small end to the other that is left out with the stuffing. Secure the roll tightly with a string, closing also the open side of the roll.
Salt and pepper generously from all sides.
Preheat the oven on 180°C.
In a Dutch oven or a pot with lid suitable for the oven heat some olive oil on high. Fry the roll appr.2-3 minutes from each side until nicely brown.
Cut the onion into four and the carrots and figs in halves. Add the onions and the carrots to the meat and let fry until glassy.
Crush the coriander and the cardamom seeds in a mortar and add to the meat together with the laurel leaf. Deglaze with the red wine.
Add the water, chopped parsley, salt and pepper and close the lid. Let cook in the oven 2-2.5 hours until meat is done (check with a meat thermometer).
When the meat is cooked, turn off the oven, remove the roll, wrap in foil and keep warm in the oven.
Sieve the gravy from the vegetables into a pot. Mix the cooking cream with the flour and add to the gravy. Bring to boil until the sauce thickened.
Eventually salt and pepper to taste.
Remove the strings from the meat and cut into slices. Serve with Tagliatelle.
Eat Good Live Good 