Porchetta

I guess there are two spellings to the dish and actually a couple of variations on this Italian classic. Here I had to do the Pork Belly Only version. Some recipes add pork loin into the center of the roll, but I wanted just to go Pork Belly. Oh. My. God. It's like a 4 lb. roll of seasoned bacon with amazing pork drippings (that make excellent potatoes by the way) and a seriously pork-rich meal. Beware - If you have not done this before, it is a seriously rich meal and will put you on the couch napping for the afternoon. Retired guy heaven. And...it is super easy. You prepare the pork belly on day 1 and you roast it on day 2 or 3. And it is pretty forgiving. You can cook it a bit too long and it's okay. You can leave it in the fridge for 24 to 72 hours, and it's okay. You can crisp it in a hot oven or a broiler and it's okay. 

One other thing and this was such a cool find. Well, for me. For those more experienced it's probably a no-brainer, but the drippings. Oh lordy, lordy. They make the best roast potatoes and Cori knows I never cook potatoes right (clearly a blemish on my Irish heritage). But finally, at the age of 60, I have a good potato story. I kept the drippings that were left over to make more roast potatoes later this week. Un-f'n-believable. 

Finally, I added a mixed green salad to serve with the pork and starch and topped it with an Italian viegarette which was basic but seemed to match well. 

I asked the wine dude at Taylors what kind of wine to serve with it, and he suggested a Barbera D' Alba so if you are pairing with wine, consider that as well. Okay, here is the recipe I used.

I used two recipes for the porchetta and potatoes and modified just a tad on the proportions. Below is what I used and here are the two recipes I based much of this on: https://www.theendlessmeal.com/porchetta-recipe/ and https://www.seriouseats.com/all-belly-porchetta-recipe-italian-roast-pork 

Ingredients for Porchetta (serves 4 and is easily scaled up. 4 lbs of pork belly is about as small as you can go and still roll the pork belly)

• 1 whole skin-on pork belly, 4 lbs

• 1 tablespoon fennel seeds

• 1 tablespoon chili flakes

• Zest from 1 orange

• Orange juice squeezed from ½ an orange (please eat the other half)

• ¼ cup olive oil

• ¼ cup chopped parsley

• 2 tablespoons sea salt, divided

• 1 tablespoon EACH: minced rosemary, thyme, sage, and black pepper

Directions:

1. Lay out the pork belly skin side up. Use a paring knife to poke shallow holes all over the surface of the skin. Try not to go too deep and do make lots of holes.

2. Turn the pork belly over and cut diagonal lines into the meat to form a crosshatch pattern.

3. Grind the fennel seeds and chili flakes until coarsely ground. I have to tell you, I ground these suckers for 5 min in a mortar and pestle and the fennel barely broke down. So I thought to myself "its good enough". And it was! So don't get too hung up on this step. Other recipes suggest fennel pollen, which is not widely available. I could find it on line but it would take too long to get to me (2 days on amazon prime), so I went with fennel seeds. It was just fine. 

4. Transfer fennel seed and chili flake mixture to a bowl and add the orange zest, orange juice, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, parsley, 1 tablespoon of sea salt, and the pepper, rosemary, thyme, and sage and mix to form a paste.

5. Use your fingers to work the rub into the meat.

6. Roll the pork belly into a tight log and tie it with butcher twine at 1" intervals. This step is important. It does not have to look neat, and your knots can be terrible, but tie this up well at about 1-inch intervals.

7. Rub the pork belly log with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sea salt over the skin. Put the porchetta on a V-rack set in a large roasting pan and put it into your fridge for 24-72 hours.

8. This is important too - you need to let the porchetta air dry in the fridge for at least a day. What I have read is that if you do not, the skin will not crisp very well and gets a bit mushy. You do not want that after spending all of this money on a slab of pork belly!

9. After the pork belly has spent overnight (at least) in your fridge, it's time to cook it!

10. Preheat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the porchetta from your fridge and rub more olive oil (1-2 tablespoons) over the skin. Put it into your oven on a middle rack and let it roast for 3-4 hours. It will be done when it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

11. Check it after the first hour. But at hour #2, you want to add your potatoes if you are doing them. And, regardless, at hour #2, you will have drippings to start basting your porchetta with every hour! 

12. When the four hours are up, remove the porchetta from the oven. Set oven temperature to 500°F (260°C) and continue roasting until completely crisp and blistered, about 20 to 30 minutes longer. 

13. When the skin is just the way you want it, remove the pancetta from the oven and place it on a cooling rack. 

14. Let the porchetta rest for 15-20 minutes before carving it with a serrated knife.

Other recipes suggest putting the pancetta under a broiler and if you oven does not get hot enough, do that, but this worked fine for me. 

Roasted Potatoes

Now, this may be crossing the streams a bit, but I wanted to borrow from Spanish potatoes, with smoked paprika and a little heat. But I also wanted the Italian seasoning to connect with the Italian history of the pork. And, because I always screw up cooking potatoes, I wanted them to actually be cooked this time. So, this is what I did and it came out great!

Ingredients:

• 6 small red potatoes cut in 2 inch pieces

• 1 tablespoon Smoked paprika

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, roughly chopped

• ½ teaspoon sea salt

• ¼ teaspoon cayenne powder

• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

• Optional: feta cheese and chopped parsley

Directions:

1. Place the cut potatoes into salted water and boil until just tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and set aside. 

2. Add smoked paprika, olive oil, thyme, salt, cayenne, and black pepper until potatoes are well coated. Be gentle as the par-boiled potatoes will be semi-soft. 

3. Add to the roasting pan in the middle of step 11 above, tossing them with the pig's drippings to coat. Continue roasting the porchetta with the potatoes in the pan. Turn the potatoes with a spatula every 45 minutes or so as they roast.

4. When done (after 2 hours) remove from the pan and place on a serving dish. Sprinkle some feta cheese over the top and a little parsley (if you're using them) and serve immediately. THEY ARE AWESOME!

Mixed Green Salad

I super cheated on the salad - I got a mixed green tub of salad at the grocery store. But the dressing makes the salad and that I made myself.

Ingredients:

• 1 tub of mixed green salad

• ½ cup olive oil

• ¼ cup red wine vinegar

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

• 1 tablespoon Italian herb seasoning

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder 

• ½ teaspoon EACH: sea salt and pepper

• Optional: 1 tablespoon finely grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Place greens in a large bowl.

2. Combine olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice, seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake well. (Store the dressing in your fridge for up to 2 weeks).

3. Shake well to mix the ingredients each time before you use it. 

4. Pour dressing on the greens!

5. Feel free to add some parmesan cheese to the salad depending on taste.