Pork loin with prunes

Preheat oven to 200°C fanbake, setting an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Put the prunes in a small saucepan with the red wine and water and heat slowly to a gentle bubble. Cover with a lid and cook for several minutes until the red wine mostly evaporates. Cool, then strain the prunes into a bowl, reserving the juice. Set aside 3 prunes for stuffing inside the pork and push the rest through the sieve.

Make a tunnel in the centre of the loin by first making an incision with a knife, then pushing the rounded end of a wooden spoon through the centre of the meat and out the other side. Wiggle the spoon a bit to make a cavity. Use the spoon to push in the reserved prunes and sage leaves, adding a few pinches of sea salt, first from one end and then from the other, trying to make them meet in the middle.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a shallow, heavy-based ovenproof dish (something like a Le Creuset French oven is perfect) over medium heat. Rub crackling with oil then sprinkle generously with sea salt. Add pork to dish and sizzle it for a few minutes. Transfer to the oven, putting the dish towards the back wall of the oven where it is hottest. Roast for 25 minutes until crackling is well under way, then lower the heat to 180°C, turning the oven to regular bake (if your oven does not have fanbake, start the pork on 210°C then lower to 180°C).

Roast for another 40 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the loin reaches 62-63°C. Remove pork from oven and let it rest uncovered in a warm spot, or at least out of draughts, for 15 minutes. The internal temperature will increase, reaching around 71-73°C as it stands (pork is safe to eat when it reaches any of these temperatures).

If you want to make conventional gravy, tilt dish and scoop off 95 per cent of the fat (or use a fat-separating jug). Make gravy in the conventional way, adding enough flour to absorb the fat in the dish, adding stock and stirring it over heat until it bubbles, then cook for 2-3 minutes and season.

Alternatively, to make prune sauce, wipe roasting dish pretty well free of fat and add reserved prunes and juice. Bubble up. Swirl in crème fraîche and season.

Slice pork and serve with gravy or prune sauce.

• Ignore gravy option if eating gluten-free.