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porchetta with parmesan cream and spinach

Gary @ BigSpud
Course Starter
Cuisine Italian
Servings 2 people

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.