The concept of roast on Sunday dates goes back to feudal times when a squire would spoil his serfs on Sundays with a meal of roasted oxen to thank them for the week’s work. Today this British tradition continues and is usually served with Yorkshire pudding (a batter pudding that was created in the early 1700’s in the north of England by cooks eager to make use of the fat that dropped into the dripping pan while the meat roasted). Serve a leg of pork a little differently this Sunday – the meat is exceptionally tasty and the juniper berries and apples that are used in this recipe, freshen and flavour it to perfection.

Ingredients

• 1 kg leg of pork, cut into sizeable cubes
• 2 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
• 500ml sweet cider
• 500 ml fresh, homemade chicken stock cube
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp juniper berries
• 115 ml crème fraîche
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 50 g butter

Method

• Preheat the oven to 170 C.
• Heat the olive oil in a large casserole dish with a lid and then sear the pork until all the pieces are brown – do this in batches – when a batch is ready, just put on a dish and set aside.
• As soon as all the meat has been well-browned, return it to the pan and pour over the cider, scraping with a spoon and mixing everything  well  to incorporate all the residue that stuck to the bottom of the dish.
• Add the chicken stock, the fresh rosemary, the juniper berries and the apples and bring the liquid to a boil, put the lid on the casserole dish and transfer it to the oven.
• Cook for 1½ hours until the meat is tender and the sauce has thickened somewhat, checking occasionally to ensure that it doesn’t dry out.
• Stir in the crème fraiche and butter and serve with well-buttered baked potatoes.