ROASTED PORK ROAST RECIPES

1. Preheat your oven to 240ºC/475ºF/gas 9. First, score the skin of the pork in a criss-cross pattern every 1cm/½ inch with a sharp knife, trying not to cut into the meat itself. Mix a little salt with a teaspoon of paprika, the lemon juice and a little olive oil, then rub this over the meat and into the score lines. Put the meat in a high-sided roasting tray and cook in the preheated oven for 30 minutes to start the skin crisping up.
2. Remove the meat from the oven, turning the heat down to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Take the pork out of the tray and put it to one side, then spoon out half the fat and discard it. Place the tray on the hob, add the onions, whole chillies, chorizo, bay leaves and rosemary with the remaining paprika, and fry gently until the onions are soft. Add all the tomatoes, the beans, garlic, parsley and a wineglass of water to the tray, stirring and scraping up all the lovely sticky bits from the bottom. Place the pork on top, return to the oven and cook for another hour or so or until the skin is crispy and the meat is meltingly tender.
3. When cooked, remove the pork from the tray and allow to rest. Taste the sauce and season with salt, pepper and a few swigs of red wine vinegar to give it a twang. Then remove the chillies and control the heat by chopping up as much chilli as you like and stirring it back into the sauce. Lovely served with soured cream.

Cook time: 12-14 hours.

Preheat the oven to full whack (240C/475F/gas 9). Toss the reserved pork skin in a little oil and sea salt (you can either slice it into long, thin strips or leave as one piece), lay it flat on a tray and roast until perfectly golden and crisp, keeping a close eye on it, then remove. Peel the onions, then cut into wedges with the apples. Trim and roughly chop the celery and break the garlic bulb into cloves. Scatter it all in your largest roasting tray with the sage and bay leaves, pour in the cider and add a good splash of water.

Bash the fennel seeds, cloves, dried chillies and . heaped teaspoon of salt to a fine dust in a pestle and mortar, then massage all over the pork with a drizzle of oil. Sit the pork in the tray, cover tightly with a double layer of tin foil, place in the oven and turn the temperature down to 130C/250F/gas ½ Roast for 10 to 12 hours, or until the meat pulls easily away from the bone, then remove from the oven and cover with a couple of clean tea towels to keep warm.

Turn the oven up to 200C/400F/gas 6. Peel the potatoes, then cut lengthways into wedges along with the fennel. Parboil in a couple of pans of boiling salted water – the potatoes for 7 minutes and the fennel for 6 – then drain, leave to steam dry completely, and place in a large, high-sided roasting tray (25cm x 35cm). Peel the garlic and blitz until fine with the anchovies, rosemary leaves and a good splash of boiling water in a blender. Finely grate in half the nutmeg and most of the Parmesan and pour in the cream. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, blitz again, then pour over the veg. Grate over the remaining Parmesan and bake at the bottom of the oven for 45 to 50 minutes, or until golden and bubbling. Serve everything in the middle of the table with a whole load of simply steamed seasonal greens. You’ll get a natural brothy gravy underneath the pork – reduce it on the hob before serving, if desired.

Tip: Freshen this up with a zingy salsa. Chop 2 eating apples into fine matchsticks and toss in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of cider vinegar and 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Pick, roll up and finely slice the leaves from ½ a bunch of fresh mint and toss into the bowl with a pinch of salt and pepper. Simple.

902 calories.