Slow Roast Pork

During our current meat drought (Veganuary 2020), carnivorous fantasies have begun to preoccupy the mind. We started eating this after I saw Lorraine Pascale (fellow JAGS parent) doing it on TV. My version includes a number of modifications. Serve with roast potatoes, red cabbage, apple sauce and another veg of your choice (Carluccio’s carrots or peas – or both!)

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 tbsp fennel seeds
Half a handful black peppercorns
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2kg boned and rolled pork shoulder with skin slashed

For the gravy:
Heaped tbsp flour
A slug of whatever booze you have to hand (even mulled wine works) and / or some apple juice
A dollop of apple sauce or similar to sweeten
Potato cooking water

Method

To ensure a really good crackling, get started the night before. Remove any packaging from the pork, dry the skin and meat and add some more, deep slashes to the skin, taking care not to pierce right through to the meat. A stanley knife is a great tool for this but a super-sharp kitchen knife works too. Leave the meat on a plate, uncovered, in the fridge overnight.

Preheat the oven to 150/130 (fan).

Grind the fennel seeds and the peppercorns in a pestle and mortar, then mix in the salt and bicarbonate of soda. Smear the mixture all over the pork skin, pushing it into the furrows.

Cover the exposed ends of meat with a double ‘cuff’ of kitchen foil, then place the meat onto a baking tray (I use the heavy green Le Creuset dish). Roast in the oven for 4.5 hours. Increase oven temperature to 200/180 (fan) and roast for a further 1-1.5 hours. If your crackling needs more oomph, remove it from the meat and return to the oven at an even higher temperature for 15 minutes. The meat will be perfectly fine, covered with foil, before you carve/shred it.

To make the gravy, put the baking tray on the hob, on a medium heat, add a little fat if necessary and the flour, cook briefly (do not allow to burn), then whisk in the booze, juice if using, potato water and apple sauce and simmer for 5 minutes. Check seasoning – it will probably need salt, and you might want to add a little marmite.

Clockwise from top: red cabbage, roast potatoes, peas, slow-roast pork & crackling, apple sauce, Carluccio’s carrots

Spinach & Lentils

Originally an actress, Madhur Jaffrey became a household name in the UK in the 1980s as an authority on Indian cookery. We cooked loads of her dishes at home and several have become family staples. Spinach & lentils, which I’ve adapted over the years, is cheap and nutritious (sorry, Zita) and makes a great meal on its own, served with rice and raitha, or as part of a more lavish Indian spread.

Serves 6

Ingredients

200 g whole green lentils, washed and drained
750 ml water
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1-2 fresh, hot green chillies
1 onion or 4 spring onions, finely chopped
2 cubic cm peeled, grated or chopped fresh ginger
8 tbsps chopped coriander
500 g (2 bags) fresh spinach, washed and drained
1 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Juice of a lemon

Method

Put the lentils and water into a heavy pan and bring to the boil. Cover, turn heat to low and simmer for 45 mins to 1 hour. (Add more water if the lentils are drying out.)

Put the oil in a pan large enough to hold the spinach (I use a wok) and set over a medium heat. When hot, put in the chillies and the ginger. Stir and fry for 10 seconds, then add the chopped onion or spring onion; turn heat down a bit and fry for 5 mins until the onions are soft but not brown.

Add the spinach and coriander; stir and cook until the spinach has wilted. Now put in the drained lentils, salt and pepper. Stir to mix and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook gently for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, cook some rice. Add the lemon juice at the very end – the spinach will turn brown if you cook it with lemon for too long.

Hungarian Spinach

Babú’s standard birthday meal is Hungarian spinach (spenótfőzelék) and pork meatballs (fasírt). I haven’t ever been particularly keen on the latter, which can be quite heavy, but the spinach part has evolved into one of our staples, eaten with roast chicken or baked potatoes or lamb kofta. I’m not claiming my version is authentic but the basic principle of cooking vegetables in a thick, garlicky roux is typical of many Hungarian vegetable recipes.

Serves 4 generously or 6 as a side dish

Ingredients

2 bags (approx 500g) spinach
25g butter
1 heaped tbsp flour
2 cloves garlic, crushed
200ml milk
Salt & pepper

Method

Wash the spinach in cold water, then transfer in handfuls to a large pan, shaking the water off as you go. Cook, covered, until all the spinach has wilted. Drain in a colander.

When the spinach has cooled a bit, squeeze out the excess water (press down on it with a potato masher rather than risking a snapped wooden spoon), then chop finely.

In a small pan make a thick roux: melt the butter, then turn up the heat and add the flour and the crushed garlic. Whisk until the mixture becomes paler (do not allow to brown), then add the milk. Whisk vigorously – it will quickly get very thick.

Stir in the chopped spinach, add salt & pepper, turn heat to low, cover and leave the mixture to simmer slowly for about 10 minutes (to ensure that the flour is cooked). It is liable to stick, so make sure you stir it occasionally. It will loosen as more water is released from the spinach. If it still seems too thick you can add more milk or even some cream.

Lime Grove November 2015

Roast potatoes

This recipe combines all the tricks I’ve picked up for getting crisp, fluffy roast potatoes, so if you are forced to compromise on one element you should be fine.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1kg floury potatoes (King Edwards/Maris Piper/bog-standard white potatoes)
2 tbsp goose fat
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp fine semolina or polenta (optional)

Method

Preheat the oven to 220 (200 fan)*
Peel potatoes and cut into your preferred size
Cover with just enough cold water to submerge. Add salt.
Parboil: bring to the boil and then cook for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile heat the goose fat on a roasting tray in the oven.
Drain (reserving the water for gravy if you are making it) and shake the potatoes in a colander to fluff the edges.
If you’re after a guaranteed crisp, sprinkle semolina/polenta (this is Nigella’s trick) over the potatoes at this stage.

Tip potatoes into the hot goose fat, turn to coat them and then roast for 45 minutes or until golden, turning half way through the cooking time.

*A note about temperature: if you’re cooking something else (eg a roast) in the same oven on a lower temperature the potatoes will do fine alongside – just leave them in a bit longer.