HOLIDAY PIGGY ROLL (CRANBERRY STUFFED PORK LOIN)

INGREDIENTS
Pork
1 4 to 5 lb boneless pork loin roast
butcher’s string (100% cotton, not dyed)
salt and pepper

Stuffing
1 large yellow onion, finely diced
3 to 5 cloves of garlic finely minced
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp balsamic or herbed vinegar
1/2 cup red wine
2 tbsp raw honey
6 to 8 oz dried cranberries

Gravy
10 oz chicken broth
1 cup white wine
1 tbsp honey
3 tbsp pre-sifted flour

PREPARATION
Heat the olive oil and sauté the onion over medium-high heat, stirring frequently until the onions become golden brown at the edges. Add the garlic, reduce heat to medium and continue stirring for five minutes. Add the vinegar and simmer for five minutes. Add the red wine, honey and cranberries and simmer until the liquid is mostly absorbed (about 15 minutes). Set aside to cool slightly while you prepare the pork.

Preheat oven to 325°. Butterfly the pork loin as if you are opening a book flat. Use the smooth end of a meat hammer to flatten the loin until it is 1” thick. Salt and pepper the fat side and flip over so that the unseasoned side is up. Spread cranberry mixture all over the unseasoned side. Roll the loin from the long end and use the butcher’s string to tie about every two inches. Place pork roll on rack of roasting pan and roast uncovered for about 1.5 hours, turning once during cooking.

Remove the roast from the pan and wrap in aluminum foil while you prepare the gravy. Strain the liquid from roasting pan, being sure to remove any loose cranberries or chunks that are burned or may burn easily. Pour the strained liquid back into the roasting pan and make the gravy right there in the roasting pan on your stovetop over medium heat. Add the presifted flour to the liquid until it’s blended. Add the chicken broth and scrape all those lovely brown bits on the bottom of the pan into the broth. Add the white wine and reduce for about ten minutes. Add the honey and reduce until the gravy is slightly thickened and syrupy in texture.

Cut the strings out of your pork loin and slice into 1” thick sections. Let your eaters ladle their own gravy to their individual tastes.

THE STORY BEHIND THE RECIPE
Santa left a little Better Homes and Gardens cookbook in my stocking this year and I came across a recipe for a stuffed pork loin. Of course, I had to monkey with the recipe and make it my own as I always do—and the results were really excellent. The biggest challenge for me was that I had a head cold and could barely taste anything. But both my mother and brother were happy to help me out in that department. This dish would make an excellent substitute for the traditional holiday turkey or ham. I served it with salad, soft dinner rolls, homemade gravenstein applesauce and oven-roasted Yukon gold potatoes. The gravy was a great accent for the potatoes too. It was a real crowd pleaser and will probably usurp the turkey at Christmas dinner next year.

CHEF’S NOTES
Depending upon the length of your loin roll and the dimensions of your roaster, you may have to cut the roll in half.

For those of you who worry about undercooked meat, feel free to use a meat thermometer. Pork should reach 155° while cooking. If you are cooking a smaller or larger roast, a meat thermometer will help you adjust the cooking time.

DIETER’S INFORMATION
This is a fairly low fat dish, especially if you opt for a leaner loin cut. It’s also fairly low on carbs so it would work well as the entrée in a low carb dinner—try serving it with grilled asparagus and a big salad.

BRUISED APPLE PIE

INGREDIENTS
For Pie Filling:
10 medium-sized (about five cups) peeled, cored and sliced gravenstein or granny smith apples
1 to 1 1/2 cups whole blackberries (fresh or frozen)
1/2 to 3/4 cup raw sugar
1/2 to 3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
3 tbsp lemon juice

For Pie Crust:
2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1.2 tsp salt

PREPARATION
For Pie Crust:
Mix all dry ingredients. Combine vegetable oil and milk to dry ingredients just until incorporated. Split dough in half and roll out one half of the dough between two sheets of wax or parchment paper to the shape of your pie pan. Turn out dough into pie pan and cook for fifteen minutes at 350°. Set aside crust to cool. Roll out second ball of dough between two sheets of wax or parchment paper to the shape of your pie pan. Remove top sheet of paper, place back on the dough and flip. Remove paper and cut venting holes in the middle of dough.

For Pie Filling and Pie Cooking:
Mix all filling ingredients except blackberries in a large bowl. Pour filling into cooled bottom crust. Add blackberries to the top of the rest of the filing. Apply top crust and bake in 350° oven for 30 to forty-five minutes, until crust is golden brown and you see the filling bubbling up through the vents.

THE STORY BEHIND THE RECIPE
I was a willful child. Once I had decided I was ready and really wanted to do something, there was no stopping me. When I was eight, I started harping on my mother about letting me cook. She told me I was too young, but her real concern was the state in which I would leave her kitchen when I was done. My mother has a touch of OCD so you’ll have to forgive her this concern. Also in her defense, she was also responsible for cooking meals for her family at a very young age and didn't want me to have that same level of responsibility.

I waited for a Saturday when she was out shopping, leaving my father in charge (which meant he was getting drunk in the garage while “fixing” a car and afforded me a lot of freedom). I called my grandmother for her pie recipe. Grandma and Grandpa had 12 1/2 acres that included gravenstein trees, blackberry bushes and walnut trees—and my Grandma was the best cook I knew. A parent during the Great Depression, my grandmother was the original innovative cook. She discovered through necessity, how to incorporate foods easily available to her—so began her blackberry-apple pie. When I called her, she didn’t ask any questions—she knew I was ready to cook, and as grandma, wasn’t concern about the details.

By the time my mom returned home from shopping, there were two bruised apple pies cooling on the counter. The smells of the kitchen were so inviting and the smile on my face was so broad that she noted, but instantly dismissed the fact that she would spend an hour cleaning the flour and apple juice from me and her kitchen.

I was now allowed to cook under direct supervision.

CHEF’S NOTES
If you are vegan or dairy intolerant substitute rice milk for the milk in the pie crust.

Gravenstein apples are in my opinion the best apples in the world. They are the perfect balance of sweet and tangy, and the flesh is firm, but not too tough. I love them for sauce, pie and just for eating. The closest substitute is granny smith.

My grandmother’s recipe included 2 tablespoons of tapioca to help the filling gel and keep from soaking the bottom crust, which she didn’t bake and cool before adding the filling as I do, so if you want to skip a step and save some time, add tapioca.

DIETER’S INFORMATION
As far as desserts go, this one is definitely low fat.