Country French Pork with Prunes and Apples — Christmas Dinner on the Cutting Board That Made Me Cry

Christmas week. Hazel's preschool pageant was Wednesday. Sixteen toddlers in costume, attempting choreography, achieving chaos. Hazel the reindeer. Pink-glitter antlers, red nose, a brown shirt. She stood on stage and waved at me instead of singing. The song continued without her contribution. She waved the entire time. Three minutes of waving. 'I waved at you, Mama!' 'I saw, baby. You were perfect.' 'I was the BEST reindeer.' The confidence of a Hazel Abernathy. Unshakeable. Magnificent. Christmas Eve: enchiladas. The tradition. Year four. Elena's napkin recipe, now so deeply embedded in our family that Caleb thinks I invented it. I didn't correct him. Some attributions get complicated when a recipe has been made a hundred times. Christmas morning: Caleb got books (shark and ocean encyclopedias), a build-your-own-robot kit, and a new apron for cooking. The apron says 'Head Chef.' He put it on immediately and declared the kitchen his. Hazel got a toy kitchen. A full toy kitchen with plastic food and tiny pots and pans. She has not left its vicinity since Christmas morning. She 'cooks' constantly. The plastic kitchen runs twenty-four hours. Ryan got me a custom cutting board — engraved with 'Dinner at 1800' and our wedding date. I held it and stared at it and didn't cry but came very close. 'Dinner at 1800,' I said. 'Always,' he said. Made pot roast for Christmas dinner. On the new cutting board. The tradition on the gift that celebrates the tradition. Enchiladas. Pot roast. Dinner at 1800. Merry Christmas.

The cutting board said “Dinner at 1800” and there was only one answer to that — something slow, something worthy of the occasion, something that filled the house with warmth the way the whole week already had. This Country French Pork with Prunes and Apples is what I made on it, Christmas afternoon, while Hazel narrated from her toy kitchen and Caleb supervised in his Head Chef apron. The braise is rich and a little sweet from the fruit, exactly the kind of dinner that earns its place in the rotation and eventually becomes the tradition nobody questions.

Country French Pork with Prunes and Apples

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 2 hours 15 minutes | Total Time: 2 hours 35 minutes | Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 3 to 3 1/2 lbs boneless pork shoulder or loin roast
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
• 3/4 cup pitted prunes, halved
• 2 medium apples (such as Granny Smith or Honeycrisp), peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch wedges
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish

Instructions

1. Season the pork. Pat the pork roast dry with paper towels. Combine the salt, pepper, and dried thyme, then rub the mixture all over the surface of the roast.
2. Sear. Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the pork and sear on all sides until deeply browned, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer the roast to a plate and set aside.
3. Build the braise base. Reduce heat to medium. Add the sliced onion to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly golden, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.
4. Deglaze. Pour in the white wine and scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Let the wine reduce by half, about 3 minutes.
5. Add liquids and seasonings. Stir in the chicken broth, Dijon mustard, and whole grain mustard until combined. Nestle the rosemary sprigs and bay leaf into the liquid.
6. Return the pork and add fruit. Return the seared pork roast to the pot. Scatter the prunes around the roast. Cover the pot tightly with a lid, reduce heat to low, and braise for 1 hour 45 minutes.
7. Add the apples. Uncover, add the apple wedges around the pork, and continue cooking uncovered for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, until the apples are tender and the sauce has thickened slightly.
8. Rest and finish. Transfer the pork to a cutting board and let it rest for 10 minutes. Remove the rosemary sprigs and bay leaf from the pot. Swirl in the butter to enrich the sauce.
9. Slice and serve. Slice the pork against the grain and arrange on a platter. Spoon the prunes, apples, and braising sauce generously over the top. Garnish with fresh parsley.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 420 | Protein: 38g | Fat: 16g | Carbs: 22g | Fiber: 3g | Sodium: 480mg