Pork with date and apple stuffing

Yet another use for cooking apples (Grandma gave us a bag a couple of weekends ago).

You'll need:

pork tenderloin (enough for three)
a good handful of breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
a handful of dates, roughly chopped
a cooking apple, peeled, cored and grated (or finely chopped)

Turn the oven on to about 190 degrees C.

Take your pork tenderloin, place some clingfilm over the top, and hit repeatedly with something heavy - I use my Grandma's old wooden rolling pin. The pork will gradually flatten in a pleasing fashion.

In a bowl, mix together the breadcrumbs, grated apple and chopped dates. Add the egg, and a couple of tablespoons of water, and mix everything together into a horrific mess.

Tear off a sheet of foil, and place the flattened pork on top. Dump the stuffing into the middle in a long sausage, then roll up the foil lengthways (which also rolls up the pork). Twist the ends, so that you have a giant meaty shiny Christmas cracker. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes - then open up the foil, and see how well cooked the pork is. If you like a little bit of crispiness to the stuffing and/or pork, roast for another 10-15 minutes in the oven with the foil left open.

We ate this with some steamed green cabbage drizzled in soy sauce, and a mix of carrot and sweet potato.

Grandma's stuffing (sage, onion and apple)

Just the thing to go with roast chicken, after a day of climbing, icing Halloween biscuits (better late than never) and watching the Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

You'll need:

half a small box of sage and onion stuffing
some breadcrumbs (a slice of stale bread will do, or whatever's in the freezer)
a small apple, grated
a handful of raisins
an egg
some hot water
salt and pepper

Stick the stuffing and breadcrumbs in a small mixing bowl. It doesn't matter if your breadcrumbs are frozen - they'll defrost soon enough, and anyway you're going to be shoving them in a 200 degree oven shortly.

Add the grated apple and raisins, and mix well. Beat the egg gently, and bung in the mixing bowl too, along with a little salt and pepper. Add some hot water from the kettle - you're looking for a fairly sticky mixture, but you need all the dehydrated stuffing mix and the breadcrumbs to be rehydrated nicely.

Fashion into balls - I just dollop them out onto a baking sheet. Bung in the oven for 20 minutes or so, until they're nice and brown. Just stick them in at whatever temperature the oven's on for the chicken - they'll be fine.