Porchetta (Roasted Pork)
This porchetta and apple slaw recipe is my favourite for when I'm organised enough to purchase the pork the day before, but don't have much time the day of cooking (it's really quick to prep and get in the oven). The crackling is insane and I love to remove it and chop it up, I find offering little pieces makes it go further which is what everyone wants when crackling is involved.
Ingredients
For the porchetta:
- 1.5-2kg pork belly
- 1 bunch thyme, leaves picked
- ½ bunch sage, leaves picked
- 1 bunch oregano or marjoram, leaves picked
- 2 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 10 cloves garlic
- 45ml extra virgin olive oil
- 1 ½ tbsp salt flakes
- 1 tsp cracked black pepper
- 2 red onions, sliced in wedges
For the sauce:
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 150g creme fraiche
For the apple slaw:
- 125g sour cream
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
- ½ cabbage, shredded
- 1 green apple, shredded (I use my mandolin to julienne, if you want to save time you could coarsely grate)
- Salt flakes, to taste
Serves 4-6
Cooking time once in the oven: 6 hours
Method
- The night before: Score pork skin, making sure you don’t cut into the meat, and season really well with salt. This will draw out moisture from the fat and give you the best crackling.
- Refrigerate uncovered, ideally for at least 12 hours.
- 1-2 hours before cooking, remove pork from the fridge to allow to come to room temperature.
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
- Brush or wipe salt off pork.
- Lay the pork flat, fat side down, and slice the pork halfway across the middle (a horizontal incision, parallel to your chopping board), leaving a connecting point on the left side so it remains one flat piece. This will give you twice the amount of surface area for stuffing your filling.
- In a food processor (or using a mortar and pestle), process thyme, sage, oregano or marjoram, mustard, garlic, olive oil, salt flakes and pepper until a rough paste forms.
- Rub mix all over the full surface area of pork flesh.
- Roll up pork and tie with twine or cooking bands to secure in a round
- Brush olive oil over the fat and season with salt flakes.
- Roast pork, skin side up, on a lined baking tray for 30 minutes.
- Turn the oven down to 150 degrees, and roast for a further 4.5 hours (rotate the tray halfway through or when needed to ensure even cooking).
- At the 4.5 hour mark, add onions to the tray and lightly toss to coat in some of the rendered down fat.
- Set a timer for another hour, then remove onions to a serving platter.
- Turn the on the grill so the pork crackling bubbles up (I like to push a carving fork into the pork and use that and a set of tongs to rotate the pork under the grill, getting each section of fat perfectly crackled).
- Remove pork to a new tray for at least 15 minutes before serving.
- Whilst the pork rests, strain pan juices into a saucepan on medium-low heat through a mesh sieve.
- Add apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard and creme fraiche..
- Simmer until you’re happy with the consistency, taste and season, then pour into a jug ready to serve.
- To make the slaw, whisk together sour cream, apple cider vinegar, olive oil and wholegrain mustard in a large bowl. Add cabbage and apple, toss and season to taste.
- Use a knife to slice crackling away from the pork, then chop or break it up into pieces (I find this way it goes a lot further than when slicing rounds of pork for each person)
- Slice porchetta, assemble on top of roasted onions and top with crackling.