Tag: pork

Crackling Pork Shoulder Roast

This type of dish is not part of the Italian tradition—these long roasts of big chunks of meat, be they chickens cooked whole or legs and shoulders of various animals (with some exceptions, of course). It is a staple in English-speaking countries though, and I must say, I am a sucker for a good roast. It then makes sense that I borrow heavily from Gordon Ramsey’s video on how to make pork belly roast. Use this video to better understand my recipe.

The shoulder, in particular, is a delicious cut that is also easy on the pocket. It is meaty (unlike the belly) but also rich in fat and connective tissue, which brings a lot of flavor to the table. I used a deboned and vacuum-sealed pork roast. A high-end (free-range, etc.) piece but from a supermarket. It is usually recommended to buy it from the butcher in order to get a nice crackling skin, as the butcher’s meat is bled and dried much better. Notwithstanding the supermarket meat, I got excellent results. Let me explain how below.

Ingredients:

  • Pork shoulder – mine was deboned and tied into a roll
  • A fennel bulb
  • Apples
  • White potatoes
  • Red wine (of good quality)
  • A pinch of brown sugar
  • Fennel seeds
  • One juniper berry
  • A couple of cloves
  • Sage (fresh)
  • Rosemary (fresh)
  • A bay leaf (dried or fresh)
  • Salt & pepper
  • Extra virgin olive oil

Recipe:

  1. Open and untie the pork. Wash it, dry it well, oil it, and season the side without skin with salt, pepper, fennel, rosemary, and sage. Only put salt on the skin side. Salt should be generous as this is a big cut. Let it rest for about 20 minutes if possible.
  2. Now sear the pork skin in hot oil (EVO or a seed oil if you are afraid of burning the oil). This will dry out the skin nicely before hitting the oven and it is an important step if, like me, you are using packaged meat. You can do steps (2) and (3) into a large pan and then move everything into a tray or work directly with the tray.
  3. Then remove the pork and add to the tray/pan apples, potatoes, and the fennel bulb, cut into big chunks. The flame should remain high so that they brown before going in the oven.
  4. Now put the fruit and vegetables in a tray and place the pork shoulder rolled out flat with the skin facing up.
  5. Pour at least two generous glasses of red wine into the tray (avoid wetting the pork skin in the process). Add water until the liquids reach just below the pork skin. We are not using stock here so a generous amount of wine is important. Add the bay leaf.
  6. Put the tray on the stove and bring it to a boil. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees (Celsius) in the meantime. Set it to “static” (not “fan”).
  7. Once boiling, place the tray in the oven for 3-4 hours. If you don’t have as much time, bake it for 2.5 hours at 160 and finish it 15 minutes on grill mode. Keep an eye on it though and adjust the timing based on how ready/burning it looks. Don’t ever take the suggested cooking time in recipes too seriously.
  8. Once ready, remove the pork and the fruit and vegetables. Leave the liquids in the tray and place the tray on the stove on a high flame until they have thickened, turning into gravy. You can add a tablespoon of flour to the liquids to help the thickening.
  9. You are ready to serve! Cut the crackling pork with a bread knife and plate it with the fennel, apples, and potatoes, pouring the gravy on top.

Enjoy this with a nice glass of full-bodied red and quality company.

PS I would recommend following this dish with a leafy salad, seasoned with (EVO, salt and) plenty of lemon juice to clear the palate.

Slow-cooked Pork Ragù Pappardelle

Ingredients (one-course meal for 4 people)

  • 1 kg of pork neck
  • 5 carrots
  • 1 onion
  •  celery stick
  • 3 juniper berries
  • 1 bay leaf
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 litre of chicken stock (the simplest, most natural one you can find at the shops)
  • a rosemary branch
  • black pepper
  • salt
  • 500g pappardelle

Preparation

  1. Seal the pork neck on high heat in a big pan greased with evo
  2. Deglaze with a glass of white wine
  3. Once the alcohol smell is gone, take the pork neck out, cut it into big cubes (say 2x2x2 cm) and then put everything in a pot, together with carrots and celery in chopped in big chunks and the whole onion with 3 cloves “nails” pinned into it
  4. Add the stock and enough water to cover everything
  5. Add juniper berries, 5 peppercorns, the bay leaf
  6. Let it stew on boil gently for 3 hours—heat should be low enough to allow for gentle boiling
  7. Once done, take the carrots out and smashed them
  8. Put the pasta in the empty big pan you used before (big pot if you don’t have one) together with the meat and smashed carrots pouring 2/3 of the stew juices in
    1. add the rosemary
    2. salt now everything, gradually adjusting as it cooks, according to taste
    3. keep gently mixing, so that all the pasta cooks in the juices
    4. you will notice that the pork meat will break down nicely during this process
    5. add the remaining juices in a couple of rounds—the goal is to have the pasta wet enough to cook it while also getting a thick sauce (too much liquid would make it soupy)
  9. Once the pasta is al dente (it should take between 5 and 8 minutes), add a bit of grated Parmigiano Reggiano (or Grana Padano) on top and mix. Add more on top after plating for looks

Pork ribs with parsley sauce

I tried out this recipe from the book “in cucina con Nadia & Giovanni Santini” for a dinner party with friends and it was a massive success. To give you some context, Nadia won the Veuve Cliquot World’s Best Female Chef prize in 2013 and cooks with her son Giovanni in the 3-Michelin-stars restaurant “Il Pescatore”.

So, ask your friends to provide abundant quality red wine and buy lots of ribs (they happen to be inexpensive). Here I am giving you the recipe for 12 ribs (4-6 people). Rub the ribs with salt and pepper and put them in a pan that can be placed in an oven, together with 1 litre of water, 50 ml of extra-virgin olive oil, the lemon juice of 1 lemon and 1 rosemary branch. Yes, you have to put it all together before you turn the flame on.

Cook them on a medium flame until all of the water has evaporated, then either place them in the oven (180°) or leave them in the pan. It is going to take around 50 minutes (minimum, in my experience) to make the water evaporate. Take them out when they have properly browned. If you opt for the pan, make sure to turn them continuously.

Have the parsley sauce ready to pair them with. For 6-8 people, start by finely chopping 1 bunch of parsley and putting it in a small bowl. Cover it with extra virgin olive oil (3 table spoons), add 1 undressed garlic clove cut in half and a pinch of salt and pepper. Add also the juice of half a lemon and 1 table spoon of white-wine vinegar. Your sauce is now ready. Enjoy.