- 1.8kg pork shoulder, boned & rolled
- 3 tsp fennel seeds
- 1½ lemon
- 1½ garlic bulb
- A handful of rosemary, leaves only
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Freshly ground pepper
- .
- 1.
Heat your oven to 160°C/Fan 140°C/ Gas 3. Unwrap the pork and pat dry with kitchen paper. Carefully pierce the skin with a sharp knife to make several holes, cutting 1cm deep.
- 2.
In a pestle and mortar, crush together 2 tsp fennel seeds and 1 tsp coarse sea salt. Zest the lemon and add to the mortar with 1 tbsp olive oil. Grind to a rough paste. If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, use a small bowl and the bottom of a jam jar to roughly crush everything together. Generously rub the fennel salt all over the pork.
- 3.
Peel and thickly slice 4 garlic cloves. Push a slice into each of the holes in the pork (keep the rest of the garlic bulb for later). Strip the leaves from the rosemary and push them into the same holes.
- 4.
Pop the pork joint into a roasting tin. Halve the remainder of the garlic bulb and halve the zested lemon. Tuck both under the pork with any leftover rosemary. Cover the tin with foil. Roast for 31/2 hr. For the final 30 mins, take the foil off the tin and turn your oven up to 240°C/Fan 220°C/Gas 8.
- 5.
Transfer the pork to a chopping board, loosely cover with foil and rest for at least 30 mins. The meat should be meltingly soft and the skin crispy. If the skin isn’t crisped up enough, slice it off the pork joint and pop under a hot grill for 2 mins.
- 6.
While the pork roasts, remove the roasted lemon and garlic from the tin. Squeeze the roasted garlic flesh into a bowl and juice the lemon. Pour in the pork juices, spooning off any excess fat. Stir together and serve with slices of the pork.
- Tip
On the side
Agrodolce roast beetroot make a sweet and sharp side dish to cut through the richness of the roast pork. Peel beetroot, slice into wedges and toss with oil and salt and pepper. Roast for 30 mins in a hot oven, then stir together 2 tbsp sugar and red wine vinegar and pour it over the beetroot and roast for another 30 mins till tender. Toss with chopped parsley before serving with the pork. - Tip
Next week
We're keeping things slow with a beef brisket gently cooked with shallots, blood oranges, bay leaves and a drizzle of honey. It's the kind of cosy roast that dark winter days are made for.