I love roast dinners. My general approach is to buy the biggest bit of meat we can afford, as leftovers are never going to go to waste. (They just present a challenge for another night… and there’s always sandwiches)
Belly pork is a brilliant cut of meat. I can understand why it might not be to everyone’s taste, as it is quite fatty, but it is incredibly tasty because of it. It’s also very good value, a piece of meat too big for our roasting dish set me back about six quid. The way I cook it is a bit of a rehash of a Jamie Oliver recipe, but I’m not great at following recipes.
First thing to do is whack the oven up as high as it can go to try and get the best crackling. The butcher had scored the skin for me, so then it’s a case of rubbing in a frightening amount of salt to all the scores. I do think it helps to get the salt quite deep into the cuts. Put it in the oven when it’s good and hot for half an hour. The skin should start to puff up and look crackling-y like this:
Whilst that’s in there, chop up a couple of onions and a stick or two of celery into big chunks. Take half a dozen cloves of garlic and smash them a little bit. You can leave the skin on the garlic, just put the flat of a big knife on them and give them a whack.
After half an hour, take the meat out and turn the oven down to 180. Lift the meat out (no easy task) and put your onions, garlic and celery into the pan and add some rosemary if you’ve got it. Thyme would be good too, but I didn’t have any. Toss this stuff around in the meat juices in the pan, and put the meat back on top. Put it in the oven, and it will now do its thing for about two hours. Occasionally baste it with some of the fat from the bottom of the tray.
I know with a roast it would traditionally be roast potatoes, but tonight’s meal is all about sheer gluttony (and I had some cream to use up) so I made dauphinoise potatoes. I am of the firm belief that everything is better with dauphinoise potatoes.
I used up about half a carton of double cream, and added milk until it looked wet enough. Normally it would be all cream, but I didn’t have quite enough. Finely chop a clove of garlic, peel some potatoes and slice them as finely as you can. Put this into a bowl, and mix it together with the cream and a little bit of milk. Add salt and pepper. Then tip into a gratin dish or casserole dish, flatten it out a bit, and put little knobs of butter on top, along with a touch more salt and pepper. This will take 45 minutes or so to cook, so doesn’t need to go in until the last half hour of the pork’s cooking time.
We had this with kale, which I just steamed, and some glazed carrots. Chop up the carrots in big chunks, put a little drop of water in, a knob of butter and a teaspoonful of sugar. Boil until the water all but disappears and you’re left with a lovely glaze. I had this at a friend’s once, and I’ve been trying to recreate them ever since! (Never quite as good as Hannah’s I have to admit)
When the pork’s had it’s time, take the meat off and let it rest on a plate for a while. It won’t go cold, but if you’re concerned put a bit of tinfoil over it to keep the heat in.
Now we see the reason for the veggies in the bottom; with all that cooking they will have gone beautifully caramelised. Any bits underneath the meat will be very pork-y and lovely. Any bits that look a bit too charred, just chuck!
Pour away most of the fat from the roasting dish, then put it over a low heat, and stir in a teaspoonful of plain flour. Once it’s cooked for a minute pour in a glass of white wine, then slowly add some chicken/vegetable stock (or even just water), stirring continuously to avoid lumps. Make sure you scrape up any sticky bits off the bottom of the pan: they’re the business.
Let it bubble and reduce, taste it and season if it needs it, after ten minutes you’re ready to go. Pour it through a sieve for an amazing, dark, rich gravy.
Then dish up! Sorted. Not something to have every week, but a hell of a treat. And you’ll be fighting over the crackling. (The meat is lasting us a couple of nights. The crackling has now disappeared.)
Whilst making this I was mostly listening to: The new Elbow album. I’m sort of in love with elbow a bit. And then Sigur Ros – Takk. Because it’s brilliant.
No soup this week, I’m away during the week.
What do you think of the new design? I’m not sure I like it, but got very bored of looking for others options.
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