by Theo Michaels

Imagine: slow cooked pork shoulder; succulent and moist, cloaked in an apricot jam glaze; sticky, sweet, a little sharp; then finding upon your first slice a sumptuous apricot and rosemary stuffing.. Now make it a reality – welcome to slow roasted pork shoulder with apricot jam and stuffing… a perfect mothers day recipe.

My apricot glazed pork shoulder recipe sounds like a lot of faff but it is actually really easy and utterly delicious, it is in fact the ideal mothersday recipe!

I stumbled upon this idea a while ago and played about with it a few times before it ‘just worked’ since then we’ve made this loads as it’s a real favourite with everyone. My recipe for slow cooked pork shoulder with apricot jam glaze and stuffing was also featured on BBC 3CR Weekend Kitchen show.

The headline parts of this recipe are the pork shoulder (of course!), the apricot jam glaze and the apricot stuffing. Pork shoulder is perfect for slow cooking (in fact most shoulder cuts of meat are great); they always have a decent layering of fat which renders down slowly over a long low heat and is a part of the beast that gets a lot of work so is a very tough cut.

Tough cuts = flavour, but you’ve got to take it slowly, they won’t be rushed. If a steak is a wham-bam-thank-you ma’am type of cut, then the shoulder is positively frigid and won’t put out on the first date  But take it slow and you will be rewarded with meat that is moist and succulent.

The apricot jam glaze just goes fabulously with pork as well; pork in general pairs well with sweet glazes and I find apricots have just the right balance of sweet and sharp to keep this very much a savoury dish with a hint of sweetness…

I also had a jar of ambitious apricot jam that kept looking at me as if it had more to give than just being spread on toast – and it was right!

Apricot Glazed Pork Shoulder with apricot stuffing – Ingredients:

Serves 4

1.5 kg pork shoulder (rind removed)
4 ripe apricots halved
6 cloves garlic whole (lightly cracked)
1 onion sliced

Apricot Stuffing Ingredients:

3 ripe apricots roughly chopped
5 dried ‘ready-to-eat’ apricots diced
3 cloves garlic chopped
4 inches rosemary chopped
5 sage leaves chopped
seasoning
juice 1/2 lemon
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tbl apricot jam 

Apricot Glaze Ingredients:

6 tbl apricot jam
2 tsp ground cumin
juice 1/4 lemon
2 tbl honey
Seasoning
Drizzle of olive oil 

Method:

Prepare the pork shoulder

1. Mix all the stuffing ingredients together in a bowl.
2. Stuff the pork shoulder – butterfly the shoulder (slice down the middle of the pork shoulder taking care not to pierce through) lay the stuffing along the width of the pork shoulder in the middle and roll the shoulder around the stuffing and tie.
3. Place the 4 fresh apricots, garlic and onions in the bottom of a roasting dish and place the pork shoulder on top – cut side down.
4. Add 1/2 cup water / 125 ml to the base of the roasting dish and cover tightly with foil.
5. Roast in a pre-heated oven at 160c for 3 hours, then remove and let rest for at least 20 minutes out of the oven before opening the foil.
6. While the pork is resting mix the glaze ingredients together and turn the oven up to 220c.
7. Once rested; open the foil and pour away the juices, cover the pork liberally with the apricot glaze and pop back in the oven for 5-10minutes just to help the glaze get sticky.
8. Meanwhile; add a teaspoon of cornflour to a 1/4 cup cold water, combine and mix into the juices from the pork. Bring to a simmer to thicken and you have the most lush gravy!
9. Remove the pork shoulder from the oven, put on a chopping board and prepare to be amazed!

Goes well with just about anything! But especially some rosemary roasted potatoes and peas.

Check out Theocooks.com for more inspired recipes for all occaions.