Читать книгу The Vicar’s Wife’s Cook Book - Elisa Beynon - Страница 15

1.3kg pork loin, boned and rolled (please don’t buy this in a supermarket, go to your most trusted butcher for a piece of organic, happily-reared, properly-scored pig)

salt and pepper, to taste

2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

3 teaspoons fennel seeds

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 pears

1 teaspoon ginger (fresh or from a jar), grated

250ml white wine

2 teaspoons ready-made apple sauce

Bring the pork back to room temperature before you cook it. Preheat the oven to 220°C/Gas Mark 7. Dry the pork off with some kitchen towel and, if the fat hasn’t already been scored by your butcher, take a Stanley knife and cut slits diagonally down the skin at intervals of 2cm or so. Anoint the skin liberally with salt (it should look like a carpet) and rub it in with the garlic and the fennel seeds. Put a roasting tin on the hob with the oil and brown the meaty sides of the joint. (As well as sealing in the juices, this should help the fat to crisp up.) Turn the pork skin-side up and slide the tin into the oven, turning the heat down to 200°C/Gas Mark 6 after 15–20 minutes. The pork will take 25 minutes per 500g and needs to rest for 10–15 minutes before carving.

While the pork is cooking, make the gingered pears. Take the pears, peel, quarter and core them and pop them in a pan with the grated fresh ginger (or the ‘Lazy Ginger’ that comes in a jar, made by the same people who make ‘Lazy Chilli’. I know using this kind of stuff is lazy, but I am all for avoiding loathsome jobs. Every time I have tried to grate fresh ginger I end up grating my fingers as well). Add half of the white wine and let it all bubble away until the pears are soft and the juices are syrupy – for about 5–10 minutes depending on how ripe your pears are. If you prefer, the pears can be prepared in advance and reheated until warm just before you are ready to serve the meat.

When the pork is cooked, remove it from the oven and put it on a plate. I didn’t have time to do this as things were late enough as it was, but if your crackling needs a little perfecting, follow Nigella’s advice: Remove the crackling from the joint and cut it into a few pieces – those that are crispy and those that are not. Any crackling that is smugly perfect can sit with the pork in a warm place, covered in foil, while it rests. (I usually put mine in the grill section of the oven, which is over my main oven. The grill’s off, of course.) The soggier bits can go back into the oven on a baking tray, skin-side up, with the oven turned up again to 220°C/Gas Mark 7. Meanwhile, pour away any excess fat from the porky juices left in the roasting tin, add the rest of the wine and the apple sauce and simmer to allow the sauce to reduce. Test for seasoning, carve the pork, serve with the gingered pears, and ‘pig’ out.