Roast pork with celery salad and pears

by Gitte Heidi Rasmussen

Ingredients
for 6

1.2 kg pork loin with rind and deboned
1 tbsp coarse salt
pepper
2 bay leaves
1 onion

Sauce:
3 dl stock
1 ½ tbsp wheat flour
2 tbsp balsamic or fruit vinegar
of 1 tbsp redcurrant jelly
Sauce colouring

Celery salad with pears:
½ celery, approx. 400 g peeled
2 pears, approx. 250 g
1 tsp coarse mustard
1 tbsp maple syrup
½ lemon
1 tbsp oil
½ bunch flat-leaved parsley
15 g pecan nuts or walnuts

Accompaniments
1.3 kg potatoes e.g. asparagus potatoes

Approx. 1½ hours

Method:
Score the rind all the way down to the meat with a ½ cm gap – avoid scoring the meat itself. If the butcher has already scored the rind, go over it again, paying special attention to the sides. Sprinkle the rind with salt. Check that the salt gets in between the scored rind. Season with salt and pepper. Stick the bay leaves into the meat. Pour 3 dl water into a small roasting pan, place the sliced onion in the water. Fit a wire rack into the pan and put the meat on it. Put some crumpled tinfoil under the meat so that it lies as evenly as possible. Put a meat thermometer into the middle of the meat. Place the joint on a baking tray lined with baking paper in the middle of a cold oven. Switch on the oven to 200 degrees.

See also Make the perfect roast pork

Roast the meat until the core temperature is 55 degrees.

• If the crackling is crisp: continue roasting at 200 degrees until the core temperature is 65 degrees.
• If the crackling is not crisp: turn the oven up to 250 degrees until the core temperature is 65 degrees. Check that the crackling doesn’t become too dark.

Boil and peel the potatoes.

Coarsely grate the celery. Cut the pears into thin slices.

Mix together the mustard, maple syrup, 1-2 tbsp. lemon juice and oil, and season to taste.

Quickly turn the pears in the dressing so they retain their bright colour.

Add the celery and chopped parsley and mix well.

Sprinkle with chopped nuts and let the salad marinate a little before serving.

Remove the meat from the oven and separate the stock. Strain the stock into a pan and skim off the fat. There should be approx. 3 dl stock – dilute with water if needed. Sprinkle the flour into approx. ½ dl water and stir into the stock. Add the balsamic vinegar. Heat the sauce for approx. 5 mins while stirring. Season to taste and add redcurrant jelly (if required). Add a little colouring to the sauce.

Tips:
Christmas food doesn’t need to be fatty. The fat on the pork in this recipe, for example, has been cut away and we’ve calculated the fat content with and without the rind.