Christmas Porchetta by Yvette

This porchetta from Yvette van Boven’s Home Sweet Home Xmas is spectacular as a showstopper during the festive season. But really, we’d happily eat this every day of the year. Have leftovers? They’re incredibly delicious on a sandwich the next day.

Yvette on this recipe: “Please note: the meat needs to be in the oven for more than three hours. But then you’ll have something wonderful. Yes, it’s fatty meat, but that’s precisely what makes it so delicious. You simply can’t ruin this dish; if it stays in the oven for an extra thirty minutes, that’s not a problem either. Serve it with something fresh and sharp. A large roast like this serves eight to ten people, and whatever you have left (if you manage to have any) is even more delicious the next day.”

Method

Place the piece of meat in front of you with the skin facing upwards. Using a sharp knife, score the layer of fat: make long, shallow cuts about eight milli- metres apart. Turn the piece over. Sprinkle it with salt and some Sichuan pepper.

Mix all the filling ingredients and distribute the mixture over the meat. Roll the meat up tightly and tie it securely with the pieces of string you have prepared. Start in the middle and tie off the ends. Then fill in the remaining space. Rub the outside of the roast with some salt and Sichuan pepper as well. Refrigerate until ready to use. You can do this a day or so in advance, allowing the meat to marinate nicely.

Preheat the oven to 230 degrees. Remove the meat from the refrigerator at least one hour in advance so it can come to room temperature.

Drizzle some olive oil into a roasting tin and place the roast in it. Roast the meat in the oven for twenty minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 150 degrees and cover the roast well with aluminium foil. Bake for another two and a half hours. Remove the foil and baste the meat with the juices from the roasting tin. Bake for about another fifteen minutes, so the crust turns beautifully brown.

Remove the porchetta from the roasting tin and let the meat rest for fifteen minutes. It may be stuck firmly; you may need to loosen it carefully. Cut it into thin slices. Eat hot or cold.

Home Sweet Home Xmas
Yvette van Boven
€ 29,95
Fontaine Uitgevers B.V.