Cider Apple Roast Pork
 
Ingredients

3lb, 1 1/2 kg boneless pork joint
Salt
3 tbsp vegetable oil
Two sprigs fresh rosemary or 2 tsp dried rosemary
3lb, 1 1/2 kg potatoes, thickly sliced
Two desert apples
1 medium onion, a thinly sliced
6fl oz, 175 mls dry cider
Freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Heat the oven to 280 degrees c, 350 degrees f or gas 4.  Weigh the joint of pork and calculate the exact cooking time, allowing 25 minutes per pound plus an extra 25 minutes.  Check that the Butcher has scored the skin of pork to make crackling.  If he has not, do this yourself by making parallel cuts in the pork skin about half an inch apart with a sharp knife, making sure that you cut right through the skin to the thin layer of fat beneath.  Wipe the pork dry.  Sprinkle the skin with salt and rub it lightly with half a tablespoon of oil.  Put the rosemary sprigs in a roasting pan or sprinkle in the dried herbs.  Place the pork on top.  Roast the joint in the oven for about 13/4 hours or according to the calculated cooking time per weight.
 
About 1 1/4 hours before the end of the cooking time, put the potatoes in a bowl with the remaining oil and shake well to coat.  Peel core and slice the apples.  Remove the pork from the oven, scatter the apple and the onion around the joint then place the potato pieces on top.  Pour in the cider.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Return the pan to the oven and continue roasting for a further 30 minutes.  Turn up the oven to 250 degrees centigrade, gas 9 and cook for a further 30 minutes.  The pork crackling should be crisp and the potatoes golden.  Place the pork on a warmed carving dish and arrange the apple, onion and potato around the pork. Serve at once. 
Serves 6.