Stuffed Pork Rib Roast

Ever get tired of eating the same kind of food over and over and over again? That's how we've been feeling lately since we've been having to eat meals that are quick and easy to prepare. We finally had a bit of time on our side and thought we'd try something a little different. We browsed the shelves at the grocery store and finally decided that we would make our own recipe. We chose to make a pork roast, marinated and stuffed with delicious flavors and roasted to perfection. Here's the recipe that we created together:

INGREDIENTS

1 2-pound pork rib roast

Marinade

3/4 cup white wine (you can use red if you prefer it)

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons peri peri rub (you can use any spicy rub that you have on hand)

Stuffing

1/2 pound spicy sausage meat

2 tablespoons diced onion

1 tablespoon fresh sage, chopped (you can substitute 1 teaspoon dried sage)

1/2 Granny Smith apple, finely chopped

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

(In retrospect, it would've been good to add a slice or two of bread to the stuffing. Just chop it up finely and toss it in.)

Here's Riley making sure that I have the right ingredients for the marinade.

These are the ingredients for the stuffing.

STEPS

• In a large plastic zipper bag (like Ziploc), pour the wine, olive oil and spice rub in and swish it around to combine. Then put the pork roast in and massage it to help the marinade penetrate. Refrigerate for a few hours or overnight if you can, turning once or twice to ensure that it is evenly marinaded.
• In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients for the stuffing. If you don't add the bread, it will look like the picture below, but I highly recommend adding the bread otherwise you'll end up with a big clump of meat inside the roast. It still tastes good, but the texture isn't quite right for a stuffing.

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• With a sharp, pointed knife, carefully make an incision in the centre of the roast to make a pocket to fit the stuffing.
• Insert the stuffing into the pork roast, packing it tightly. Place the pork on top of a rack inside a roasting pan. Cook in the preheated oven for approximately 1 1/2 hours or until internal temperature is 160 degrees F.
• When the roast is cooked, remove it from the oven and cover with foil for 10 to 15 minutes. This will make the meat even juicier. Then slice and serve with roasted vegetables, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes or a salad!
  

Roasted Potatoes

Potatoes make a great side dish for almost any meal and can be prepared in many different ways. One of the easiest ways to prepare potatoes is to roast them and it's even more convenient if you're already going to be roasting something else in the oven like roast beef or a chicken.

Roasted Potatoes

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

3 medium-sized potatoes, chopped into 1-inch pieces

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 teaspoon chopped dried rosemary

1/8 teaspoon ground or chopped dried thyme

1/8 teaspoon savory

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

STEPS

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Spread the potatoes onto a baking sheet. Drizzle the olive oil over the potatoes and sprinkle the herbs on top of the potatoes.
• Stir the potatoes around to coat them in the oil and herbs, then spread them evenly on the pan in a single layer.
• Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, then flip the potatoes and bake for another 15 minutes or until the outside is crisp and lightly brown, but the inside is fork-tender.