We enjoy this dish so much, it ended up replacing turkey as the traditional holiday main course. Find a good pork loin (whole pork loin, not just a tenderloin) to use. The two key things to know about this dish –

1. Don’t worry about butterflying the loin, if you’ve never done it before. This video shows how to do it; it’s not as hard as you might think.
2. Use the meat thermometer as the guide for cooking time. A 3 pound roast might be about an hour-ish to get to temperature, but you might end up with one that’s a little bigger or smaller, so keep an eye on the thermometer when an hour has gone by. You don’t want to overdo it.

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• 1 3-pound pork loin
• 1 cup seasoned croutons
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup peeled & chopped green apples
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 cup minced shallots
• 1/3 cup chopped toasted walnuts
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon minced rosemary
• sea salt & ground pepper to taste

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• Butterfly the pork loin.
• Cover with two layers of plastic wrap and pound with a mallet to flatten it to less than a half-inch thick all around. Remove plastic wrap and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Set aside.
• Rinse the pork and pat dry. Make slits on the surface of the meat with a knife.
• Place croutons and chicken stock in a small bowl and let sit for 5 minutes. Mash the softened croutons with a fork. Stir in apples, walnuts, cranberries, shallots, maple syrup, and rosemary.
• Spread mixture over surface of the pork. Starting with the smallest side of meat, roll up tightly and secure with kitchen string. If making this ahead of time, at this point you can wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate.
• Coat the bottom of a roasting pan with cooking spray or a little olive oil. Place the pork in the pan and cook at 325 degrees farenheit for about 1 hour, 15 minutes, or until the inside of the pork reaches 140-145 degrees. Start checking the roast’ temperature about an hour.
• Let the roast rest for about 10-15 minutes. Remove kitchen string and slice into 1/2 inch thick slices.
• Serve and enjoy!