Pork and Prune Stuffed Onions
Whole onions roasted until tender, filled with a savory pork, prune and potato stuffing, then baked until the tops turn golden. A cozy French-inspired oven dinner with deep, mellow flavor.
- Total
- 110 min
- Prep 25 · Cook 75 · Rest 10
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Medium
You'll practice: Roasting · Resting meat
- Savory
- French
- Oven
Instructions
-
Heat the oven to 200°C. Peel the onions, then cut a thin slice off the top of each one. Use a knife to scoop out the center of each onion, leaving a shell about 1 cm thick. Chop the scooped onion flesh and set it aside.
~12 min
Hollowing the onions creates a sturdy shell that holds the filling and roasts evenly without collapsing.
-
Cut the pork loin into 1 cm pieces and put them in the large bowl. Grate the potatoes coarsely and add them to the bowl with the chopped onion, 1 tsp salt and 0.5 tsp black pepper. Chop 8 prunes and add them, then mix everything together with your hands until evenly combined.
~10 min
Raw grated potato releases starch that binds the pork mixture and keeps it moist during baking.
Grating the potatoes raw releases their starch, which binds the pork filling and keeps it moist as it bakes.
-
Sit the onion shells in the baking dish. Spoon the pork mixture into each shell, pressing it down gently and mounding it slightly at the top. Drizzle the olive oil over the filled onions.
~5 min
If the onion shells wobble in the dish, trim a sliver off their bases so they sit flat and hold the filling.
-
Pour the white wine and 100 ml water around the onions in the dish. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes, until the onions are tender when pierced with a knife and the pork reaches 71°C in the center.
~45 min
Covering traps steam so the onions soften fully before the tops brown; the pork must reach 71°C for safety.
Roasting Roast covered first to tenderize, then uncovered to brown. Watch for golden tops and a thermometer reading 71°C; avoid overbrowning.
-
Remove the foil and bake uncovered for 20 more minutes, until the tops are golden and the liquid around the onions has reduced slightly.
~20 min
Uncovering lets moisture evaporate so the tops brown and the pan juices reduce and concentrate.
Roasting Roast covered first to tenderize, then uncovered to brown. Watch for golden tops and a thermometer reading 71°C; avoid overbrowning.
-
Scatter the remaining 4 prunes, chopped, over the onions. Let the dish rest for 10 minutes before serving, so the juices settle and the filling firms up.
~10 min
Resting allows juices to redistribute and the starchy filling to firm up for cleaner serving.
Resting meat Let the stuffed onions rest 10 minutes before serving so juices redistribute and the filling sets. Cutting early loses moisture.