Stuffed Pork Loin

What a delicious and flavorful Sunday dinner this was and the cost worked out to $2.18 per person. This 2 1/4 pound roast serves 6. I'm the only one left who likes stuffing so I do purchase a boxed stuffing mix and doctor it up. For the filling you can whiz the vegetables in a food processor. If you don't have chicken stock or broth, use vegetable stock instead.

• 1 1/4 lb. boneless pork roast - butterflied and pounded down
• 2 small apples, peeled and sliced
• 1 cup of boxed stuffing mix that is already seasoned
• 1 small carrot - small dice
• 1 large stalk celery - small dice
• 1/2 medium onion - small dice
• 1/2 stick butter
• 1/4 cup apple sauce
• 2 tbsp. chicken broth (for the stuffing) + 3 tbsp. for the roasting pan
• salt and black pepper to taste

1. Prepare the pork roast: you need to butterfly the roast (or ask your butcher to do that for you).
2. Place the butterflied roast on a cutting board and cover with plastic wrap. Use your meat mallet to pound the roast to an even thickness. Photos are shown below the instructions.
3. In a saute pan melt the butter and add in the diced (or whizzed) carrot, celery and onion. Let this cook for a few minutes to soften the vegetables and allow them to give off their natural juices.
4. In a bowl combine the stuffing mix, the sauteed vegetables, the apple sauce and 2 tbsp. of chicken broth. Mix well.
5. Lay the mixture on the butterflied pork in an even layer.
6. Roll up the roast from one end to the other and hog tie the daylights out of it!
7. Season the outside of the rolled roast with salt and black pepper to taste. Place it in a roasting pan or oven proof dish. Add the apples around the roast, toss in the remaining chicken stock.
8. Baste once or twice with the accumulated juices during roasting time.
9. Bake in a preheated 350° oven uncovered for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Check the internal temperature at this time. The internal temperature should be 145° F.
10. While your roast is resting you can pulverize the apples and juices to make a chunky sort of sauce to go with the roast if you like.

You can see how succulent and juicy the roast is. It was tender and flavorful. Even my husband who never will touch stuffing devoured this and complimented me on the taste. A simple, yet rather special Sunday dinner that doesn't cost a fortune. We served ours with egg noodles and for this one time, nixed any other vegetables.