Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Overnight Slow-Roasted Pork


Not that anyone ever asked me BUT this is the single best roast I have ever tasted!! Sometimes things just all come together and maybe this was one of those times, but I can't wait to try it again to see if it really was THAT good. My guess, it really was that good!! This picture was taken about 4 hours into the roasting. There is no scale in the shot so you can't get a feel for how huge this roast was. If you try it, please let me know!!




Overnight Slow-Roasted Pork


Cook with Jamie by Jamie Oliver




2 TBS fennel seeds


1 TBS sea or rock salt


2 fennel bulbs, trimmed and roughly chopped


4 medium carrots


3 onions, peeled and roughly chopped


1 bulb of garlic, cloves unpeeled and smashed


a bunch of fresh thyme


1 X 11-14 lb shoulder of pork on the bone, preferably free-range or organic, skin scored


olive oil


a 750 ml bottle of white wine


1 pint chicken or vegetable stock




Preheat your oven to maximum. Smash the fennel seeds with the salt in a pestle and mortar until fine. Put the roughly chopped vegetables, garlic and thyme sprigs into a large roasting pan. Pat the pork shoulder with olive oil and sit it on the vegetables. Now massage all the smashed fennel seeds into the skin of the pork, making sure you push them right into the scores to maximize the flavor. Put the pork into your preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes or until it's beginning to color, then turn your oven down to 250 degrees and cook the pork for 9 to 12 hours, until the meat is soft and sticky and you can pull it apart easily with a fork.




Tip all the wine into the roasting tray and let it cook for another hour to give you a perfect sauce. Once the pork is out of the oven, let it rest for half an hour before removingit to a large board. I like to brush off any excess salt from the meat, then I mash up the veg in the pan using a potato masher. Add the stock to the roasting pan, put it on the heat and boil until you have a lovely, intensely flavored gravy (you can thicken it with a little flour). The pork is great served with some good cranberry beans, braised greens, your roast veg mash and tasty sauce.




Tuesday, January 01, 2008

New Year's with crown roast of pork, orange rice and roasted brussel sprouts



I actually bought this roast from the grocery. I called and asked them to make it and my husband went and picked it up. I didn't realize they put pink frills on the top of the bones!! What the heck ever happened to white?? Notice the pink dye that was left of the top of the bones!!
Anyway, for grocery store meat it was pretty good and it was a nice meal I was able to throw together limping around the kitchen in my cast!
Happy New Year!!