Porchetta-style pork with smashed potatoes & gremolata

Name: Porchetta-style pork with smashed potatoes & gremolata
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 3 h
Total time: 3 h 40 min
Yield: 8 servings
Ingredients: 1.5 kilos british free range pork belly joint; 1 tbsp fennel seeds; 1 tbsp ground black pepper; 1 tsp chilli flakes; 10 clove/s garlic; 20 grams rosemary; 1 orange; 3 unwaxed lemon; 1.5 kilos british regal white potatoes; 2 fennel bulbs; 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil; 25 grams flat leaf parsley

Prep: 40 minsCook: 3 hrs

Prep

40 mins

Cook

3 hrs

Servings

Difficulty

Hard

Gluten-FreeDairy-FreeNut-FreeEgg-Free

(0)

This is my go to dinner when I want to impress without spending hours in the kitchen. A beautiful British pork belly joint gets rubbed with fragrant fennel, rosemary, and garlic, then roasted until the skin crackles gloriously. The best part? Once it's in the oven, you've got three hours to yourself. I serve it with buttery smashed potatoes and a zingy gremolata that brightens everything up. Rosemary is packed with antioxidants and aids digestion, making this indulgent meal feel a bit more virtuous. It's elegant enough for guests but honestly, I make it just as often for a stunning family dinner.

Ella x

Ingredients

Servings:

1½ kilosbritish free range pork belly joint(No.1 British Free Range Pork Belly Joint)
1 tbspfennel seeds(toasted and roughly crushed)
1 tbspground black pepper
1 tspchilli flakes
10 clove/sgarlic(8 crushed, 2 finely chopped)
20 gramsrosemary(leaves finely chopped)
1orange(scrubbed, zest, plus a little juice)
3unwaxed lemon(unwaxed lemons, zest of all, plus a little juice, then cut into wedges to serve)
1½ kilosbritish regal white potatoes(scrubbed)
2fennel bulbs(cut into 1/4 or 1/8 wedges if large, fronds reserved)
4 tbspextra virgin olive oil
25 gramsflat leaf parsley(leaves roughly chopped, stalks finely chopped)

Detail level

Instructions

1
To butterfly the pork, slice through it horizontally until you get about halfway, then open it out like a book. Season the meat with salt, then sprinkle over the crushed fennel seeds, black pepper, chilli flakes, crushed garlic, rosemary, orange zest, the zest from 2 lemons, and a small squeeze of both orange and lemon juice.
2
Roll up the meat from the longest side until you have a spiral of seasoned pork, with the skin on the outside. On a work surface, arrange 3-4 lengths of kitchen string, spaced at 2cm intervals, then put the joint on top and tie each piece of string tightly around it to secure. Use a small sharp knife to prick the skin all over; season. Set a wire rack over a baking tray and put the pork on it. Loosely cover with foil and chill for at least 2 hours (ideally overnight); this helps to produce great crackling.
3
When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 150ºC, gas mark 2. Lift the pork (and rack) off the tray and put the whole potatoes and fennel wedges in a single layer in the base. Drizzle with 1 tbsp oil, season and put the pork (still on the rack) back on top. Roast for 2 hours 10 minutes-2 hours 20 minutes until cooked through with no pink meat remaining and a meat thermometer inserted into the centre of the joint reaches 70ºC.
4
Remove the roasting tray from the oven and increase the temperature to 240°C, gas mark 9. Lift the pork (and rack) from the tray and flatten the potatoes roughly with a potato masher; drizzle with the remaining 3 tbsp oil; season. Put the pork (and rack) back on top and roast for another 20-30 minutes, turning the joint every 10 minutes, until all the crackling is puffed and crisp. A meat thermometer inserted into the centre of the joint should reach 75ºC.
5
Transfer the pork to a warm platter to rest. Reduce the oven temperature to 220ºC, gas mark 7. Carefully flip the potatoes and roast for 10 minutes more until golden and crisp. Meanwhile, make the gremolata by mixing the chopped parsley and garlic with the remaining lemon zest and reserved fennel fronds; season. Slice the pork and serve with the potatoes and fennel. Sprinkle over the gremolata and serve with lemon wedges.

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