A FRESHLY roasted rolled loin of pork coated with crisp crackling is always a crowd pleaser with my friends on a Sunday. This week I am going to add a touch of Italian influences to a classic roast pork dish, that will have you craving left over cold pork and apple chutney rolls for days afterwards.
For this recipe we will be using a shoulder of pork, which has a great fat to meat ratio, to ensure a succulent tasty flavour once slow-roasted. When cooked slowly the shoulder rewards us with an easy-to-carve joint, with meat that will just fall off the bone and onto your plate.
You can ask your butcher to score the skin of the shoulder if you are not confident with a Sharpe knife. This will help all the spices and the seasoning to reach deep into the flesh, giving a rewarding hint of fennel and chilli. Or you can do it yourself with a Sharpe knife by gently slicing shallow slices across the shoulder.
Slow roasted pork marries well with autumn vegetables like butternut squash, wild mushrooms or rich, healthy buttered curly kale, which will boost our immune systems for the coming winter.
Oh! And one other thing – don’t forget the warm applesauce, which you can tart up by scraping a small vanilla bean into it right before serving.
But for now let’s get started on our pork shoulder.
