Pork roast with pears & chestnuts

The match of savoury pork meat with sweet fruit is one made in heaven, as is lamb and fruit, which is quite common in the Middle East, Iran and even the Balkans. Apicius, the legendary ancient Roman gourmand who lived in the first century A.D., has a recipe for Parthian (Persian) lamb in his celebrated cookbook De Re Coquinaria. There’s debate on whether it was actually a Persian recipe, or he was referring to a particular spice that was originally fr