Stuffed Pork With Apple & Sage
Just reading this recipe is enough to make you hungry. This savoury dish includes a celebration of local ingredients – local Gouda cheese, Ironworks apple brandy, Nova Scotia Honey Crisp apples ,Nova Scotia honey and Pork Shop Applewood smoked bacon.
Ingredients:
| 2-3 lbs | trimmed local pork tenderloin |
| 1 | leek |
| 8 oz | local Gouda Cheese, sliced* |
| 1 lb | Pork Shop Applewood smoked bacon** |
| 2 cups | Ironworks Apple Brandy*** |
| 3 | Nova Scotia Honey Crisp apples, peeled and diced**** |
| 1 1/2 tbsp | Nova Scotia honey |
| 2 cups | demi-glace |
| 20 g | fresh sage |
| vegetable oil | |
| salt and pepper to taste |
Directions (serves 4):
- Pre-heat the oven to 350°F. Butterfly the pork tenderloin by slicing vertically down the middle, leaving 1-2 inches at either end and making sure not to cut all the way through.
- Place 1/2-inch cheese slices in the centre of the butterflied pork. Wash the leek thoroughly and lay whole leek on top of the cheese. Wrap in bacon to enclose all the ingredients.
- Place bacon-wrapped tenderloin on baking sheet. Bake in pre-heated oven for 25 minutes.
- Cook the diced apples in a saute pan on medium-low heat. Add brandy and honey to the sauteed apple. Add demi-glace and reduce to desired consistency.
- Pinch off leaves from sage. Heat oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Fry 6-8 sage leaves at a time until crisp — approx. 2-3 seconds. Transfer with a fork to paper towels.
- Sauce each plate with demi-glace and garnish with the crispy fried sage leaves.
Recipe provided by: Oak Island Resort & Conference Centre
Source Guide:
*Purchase local Gouda Cheese at Fox Hill Cheese House or Knoydart Cheese House & Farm.
**Pork Shop Applewood smoked bacon can be purchased from their locations in New Glasgow and Denmark, Masstown Market and Stirling Fruit Farms.
***Find Ironworks Distillery’s Apple Brandy at the distillery, select Farmers’ Markets or from Ironworks’ online store.
****Pick up farm-fresh seasonal produce from Noggins Corner Farm Market, Stirling Fruit Farms, Masstown Market or one of the many other Farmers’ Markets of Nova Scotia.
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This looks delicious….can you explain a bit more about the “demi-glace” and how it’s made or where to buy it. Thanks!
Hi Janet,
I just asked the chef from Oak Island to answer your question – we should get a response soon. Sorry for my delay in getting back to you!
Cheers,
Christine
Hi Janet,
A traditional demi-glace recipe is made by combining a mixture of half basic brown sauce and half brown stock and then simmering until it’s reduced by half. There are many traditions and variations, some of these recipes can take up to eight hours!
For the simplest demi-glace, simmer 2 cups beef broth and 1 TBSP of butter in a pan until the broth is reduced by half. Dissolve 1 tsp. of arrowroot or cornstarch in cold water and add to the beef broth, stirring constantly.
For a more traditional demi-glace
Ingredients:
Seasoning:
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon thyme (dried)
6 to 8 parsley stems (fresh)
8 to 10 peppercorns (whole)
For the Sauce:
2 TBSP butter
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/4 cup chopped carrots
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
5 cups beef stock
Place the bay leaf, thyme, parsley stems, and peppercorns onto a square of cheesecloth.
Tie it up into a bundle with cooking twine.
Heat the butter in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat and add the chopped onions, celery, and carrots. Sauté them for a couple of minutes, until the onion is partially translucent.
Sprinkle in the flour and stir to form a paste. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring frequently until the flour is lightly browned, but by no means burned.
Now, whisk in 3 cups of the beef stock.
Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Then lower heat to a simmer, add the sachet, and reduce for about 20 minutes or until the total volume has reduced by about one-third.
Remove pan from heat and retrieve the sachet (and set it aside). Carefully pour the sauce through a wire mesh strainer lined with a piece of cheesecloth.
Now, return the sauce to the pan, stir in the remaining 2 cups of stock, and return the sachet to the pot.
Bring the pot back to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer. Simmer for about 50 minutes or until the sauce has reduced by half.
Discard the sachet. Strain the sauce through a fresh piece of cheesecloth.
Season to taste with kosher salt.
Demi-glace will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks, and in the freezer for months.
Cheers!