Apple walnut stuffed pork roast

I had defrosted a pork roast for a meal that wasn't going to happen. What to do? I needed to cook it, raw meat doesn't last that long. I typed "pork roast" into Google and my mouth watered when this came up. 

http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/59599/apple-walnut-stuffed-pork-roast

My prayers were answered, I had all the ingredients. I had never cooked with pork roast before, just not a big pork eater. When I pulled it out it looked like a blob of meat. How was I going to stuff this? What weirdos came up with a stuffing for pork blob? I understand a turkey or a chicken, but this was new territory.

So I researched.

http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/inside-our-kitchen/article/how-to-trim-stuff-and-roll-the-pork-loin-that-s-on-our-october-cover

Seemed simple enough. Not really. Evidently the pork is supposed to come out fairly even, this is how mine looked.

I then realized that I didn't have a meat tenderizer. That's what a cast iron skillet is for. I used plastic wrap to cover the meat and pounded away. It actually worked pretty well, still wasn't as flat and even as the picture on the website but it was good enough.

The meat was laid out in my stoneware bar pan (I don't know if a regular cookie sheet will work but I assume so. Time to work with the stuffing. (For multi taskers the meat part can be done while the stuffing is cooking)

I took an apple, couple stalks of celery and one onion. Cut them into manageable chunks and then used my manual food processor to chop.

Simply beautiful. No onion smell hands and these are already mixed nicely.

I forgot the walnuts (about a half cup) so I had to chop them separate.

I had a French bread loaf that I had accidentally left out and never used...for a couple weeks. It was super stale, but I didn't want to waste good, albeit super hard, bread.

First I broke it to bits and smashed it with a rolling pin inside a plastic bag. I then put it in my manual food processor to even out the chunks.

The celery, onion, apple, walnut mixture was placed in a heated up pan on medium with 4-5 tablespoons of butter and sautéed till soft and lightly golden. Next time I make this, here is where I'd add any seasonings like cinnamon or nutmeg or whatever you want)

I then added the bread and about a cup of water.

I scooped the stuffing on top and all around the flat pork, letting the extra spill over the sides. I was in a hurry so for seasoning all I did was sprinkle cinnamon and ground mustard over the flat surface before rolling, and then I rolled it up. I laid the rolled pork lengthwise and spread the stuffing all around, like a nest.

Oven was preheated at 325. I put it in and cooked it for an hour. Cooked through and the extra stuffing has a nice crunch.

For microwaved leftovers, I made a brown gravy to top the pork and stuffing. It was a great idea. Yum!