Category: meat recipes

Categories
food pork

porchetta salad with parmesan cream and spinach

Inspired by a fantastic starter I had at Union Street Cafe, this dish is a great light meal. The porchetta itself makes a fantastic roast joint. The porchetta as a roast serves 4 as a main dish, but save a couple of slices and serve cold for this recipe which would make a perfect starter portion.

Here’s the Gordon Ramsay’s Union Street Cafe version:

A light and tasty starter plate of food made with wafer-thin slices of porchetta. The radish was gossamer-like, and the gentleness of the parmesan made it a refreshing dish. It was part of a celebratory meal I had at the Gordon Ramsay restaurant in the Southwark area of London. It has a breezy, laid-back atmosphere with lots of mid-week specials (if you want high-end, try Petrus) and has the feel of a trattoria. We had a great meal, sampling the gratinated eggs (would be perfect for brunch), a fresh, summery sea bass with new potatoes, roast chicken with pea puree and lots more. The focus is on fresh seasonality, with the menu changing quickly as stock becomes available.

I’d also recommend asking to view the kitchen – I’ve never seen such jolly chefs happy to see you and carry on with service!

Anyway, back to the porchetta dish. Porchetta is an indulgent stuffed pork loin, often flavoured with garlic and lemon turned into a stuffing and roasted like a Sunday joint. It’s well worth trying. But I wanted to take this and try my starter with thick slices of roasted pork. It’s just as tasty but more satisfying, taking it in a different direction

Want something more warming? Try suckling pig with chorizo potatoes.

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porchetta with parmesan cream and spinach

Course Starter
Cuisine Italian
Servings 2 people
Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

For the porchetta:

  • 2.5 kg pork loin joint
  • 100 g stale bread
  • Grated zest of 1 lemon
  • 6 black olives
  • 2 sprigs rosemary
  • olive oil

For the garnish:

  • 100 ml single cream
  • 10 g parmesan
  • 50 g spinach
  • 4 radishes
  • 20 ml white wine vinegar

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 200C.
  • Begin by butterflying the pork loin. With the joint fat side up, using your sharpest knife slice horizontally along one side, so it can be opened like a book. Season the pork liberally with salt and pepper then make the stuffing.
  • In a food processor combine the stuffing ingredients. Add enough oil to form a paste. Spread this paste along the middle of the open pork. Roll the pork up and tie around the joint with string. Place in a sturdy roasting tray, drizzle with oil and put in the oven.
  • After 15 minutes turn the oven down to 150C. Continue cooking until the pork is at least 55C when tested with a probe thermometer. If eating now, allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before serving. Otherwise, allow to cool and refrigerate until needed.
  • To pickle the radishes, sprinkle salt and sugar into white wine vinegar until it tastes quite sweet. Add the radishes thinly sliced and leave to macerate while you do everything else.
  • Now make the parmesan cream. For best results whizz up the parmesan in a food processor to make small rubbly pieces of cheese - they melt unevenly and make a pleasing texture. Gently warm the cream with half the cheese but don't boil, you just want the cream to melt the parmesan.
  • Lay the spinach in warm serving bowls. Drizzle over some of the parmesan cream so that it wilts. Add a thick slice of porchetta, garnish with radish slices and a little more cream. Scatter over the remaining parmesan and drizzle with a touch of balsamic vinegar if you like.

Notes

Always test roasting joints with a probe thermometer. They're dead cheap and the safest, surest way to prevent over or undercooking. Buy one from Amazon.
Categories
cabbage carrots turkey

KellyBronze turkey rolls with winter slaw

I’ve been so, so lucky with this silly little blog. I’ve met all of my food heroes and worked with fantastic people, and eaten some great stuff.

Actually. Not all of that is true. I’ve not met all of my food heroes.

Despite sharing a county with him, despite cooking food similar to his, despite going for job interviews at his office, despite writing about him dozens of times, despite eating at his restaurants… I’ve never managed to meet Jamie Oliver.

Until now.

I had an invite to Jamie Oliver’s new(ish) headquarters, with no promise of him appearing, for a talk and demo of KellyBronze turkeys. Paul Kelly of KellyBronze was to host, and I have met him a couple of times – he’s a wonderful, fun guy: definitely knows his poultry, definitely loves what he does. Jamie or not I was sure for an entertaining evening.

As I arrived I started chatting to some of the people there, and I was chuffed to meet someone I’ve been following online for years: Elizabeth from Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary. By chance we were next to each other and started talking and it’s so lovely to finally meet her. (Click the link to read her version of the evening!)

And sure enough, Jamie appeared to say hello. He gave a quick intro on why he loves KellyBronze turkeys so much, then Paul Kelly took to the stage to wax lyrical on the history of the turkey and how his family has made it their duty to bring excellent turkeys back to tables across the country. In the early 80s the Kelly family brought together superior breeds to make the KellyBronze which is bred for longer, allowing it to reach maturity. A period of hanging after slaughter also breaks the collagen down and makes for a tastier bird.

.He then talked through a turkey that he’d cooked earlier. Despite being 6kg it took 1hr 55m to cook completely. By having a more mature turkey it has a store of fat under the skin that conducts heat through the carcass more rapidly. For the cooking itself, he advises cooking breast-side down at first. No stuffing, as it impairs the speed of cooking. After an hour flip the bird the right way up and continue until done, testing using a meat thermometer. And while resting meat is absolutely crucial, don’t cover with foil as you will continue to cook the turkey.

Paul then demonstrated his world-record setting carving skills, removing the legs, removing each breast then slicing to make perfect portions of meat. We then enjoyed the carved meat in a bun with a helping of slaw, which I’ve recreated here.

After eating, Jamie was chatting off to one side with Dhruv Baker. If I didn’t go and say hi to Jamie now, I’d be really disappointed that I’d missed the opportunity. So I took the chance to shake his hand and say how much he’d inspired me over the years. He was super down-to-earth, and happy to have a chat.

It’s just meeting a person – but it was really meaningful to me. So much of what I’ve done has fed from Jamie’s enthusiasm and ideas.

I’ve ordered my turkey this year from KellyBronze – there’s still time for you to order yours!

I’ve used a cooked turkey breast here, you could use leftovers on Boxing Day!

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KellyBronze turkey rolls with winter slaw

Servings 4 people
Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

  • 1 turkey breast cooked
  • 4 brioche rolls or similar
  • 2 carrots
  • 1/2 red onion
  • 1 beetroot
  • 250 ml yoghurt
  • 1 lemon
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • Dijon mustard
  • green leaves such as spinach, lamb's lettuce

Instructions

  • Peel and finely slice the onion. Peel and grate the carrots. Grate the beetroot. Mix together the yoghurt with a few dashes of olive oil and add the juice of the lemon with a big pinch of salt. Mix the dressing thoroughly and season to taste. Combine with the veg.
  • Put the buns on to toast lightly. Slice the turkey. Spread the buns with mustard, then pile up the buns with turkey, green leaves and slaw.
Categories
meat recipes pork potatoes

lemon and fennel pork with roast potatoes

Shock. Horror. Another roast potato recipe.

But this time, it’s not about the technique, it’s about the variety. In this case, the Larner.

Great British Chefs hosted an event to show off this new variety of potato. The Larner variety is a pheruja cross potato developed by Greenvale AP. It is a rich, buttery potato with golden flesh and a sweet, nutty flavour. It’s only available in Co-op from 10th December as part of it’s Irresistible Roasting Potato range.

Showing off it’s roasting qualities was brilliant chef Emily Watkins. Her no-nonsense approach showed off the potato at it’s best: a fluffy interior with golden crunch. She prepared it in multiple ways: with garlic and bay, in goose fat, or roasted from raw. But most temptingly of all, par-boiled potatoes tipped into the simmering fat of a pork joint that’d been roasting for a few hours. When done they were burnished gold and dripping in the tangy flavours of fennel and lemon that had been rubbed into the pork rind.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqrUOixH-53/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

It’s a really simple roast. I tried it myself at home, and it couldn’t be easier: score the pork rind, and massage in a rub of salt, lemon and fennel seeds pounded together… then roast. Tip in the potatoes towards the end and that’s it.

You can see the recipe on the Great British Chefs website here.

Categories
black pudding pastry sausages

black pudding sausage rolls

I’m a huge fan of black pudding. I rarely have it but when I do I revel in the spiced, oaty meaty flavour. Lightly crisp from the grill, with a slick of brown sauce it’s perfection.

Clonakilty sent some of their product to try. Their bacon was thin cut and full of flavour. Their sausages were plump and juicy. The black pudding was really good, but different to what I’d had before. Scanning the packaging I realised what; their black pudding is beef. Pretty sure I’d only ever had pork before. What a rich, meaty taste it gives.

Picture courtesy of Clonakilty

How better to show them off than putting them into a sausage roll. Black pudding by itself could be pretty heavy going, so I’ve mixed it with regular pork sausagemeat to calm it down. The addition of a sweet-sharp onion chutney is a great way to balance out the flavours.

I used Clonakilty Ispini sausages, but you could use pork chipolatas if you can’t get these.

Cut them large or small as required to suit your party. I made mine on the large side to go in lunchboxes, but you could make yours more dainty to serve as a canape. Serve large or small, the choice is yours!

Thanks to Clonakilty for the samples.

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black pudding sausage rolls

Course Snack
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 6 people
Author Gary @ BigSpud

Ingredients

  • 400 g pork sausages I used Clonakilty Ispini
  • 200 g black pudding I used Clonakilty beef black pudding
  • 2 tablespoons red onion chutney
  • 1 roll puff pastry (320g)
  • 1 egg beaten

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 200C.
  • Roll out your puff pastry sheet and cut to size. Arrange on baking paper on a metal baking sheet. Brush the pastry evenly with chutney.
  • Squeeze the sausagemeat out of it's skins into a bowl. Roughly chop the black pudding and mix with the sausage. Divide into your pastry, roll over and seal. Slash the tops to allow steam to escape and brush with egg wash. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes, until the pastry is risen and golden brown.
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