OK so I have now realised it is sheer
stupidity to try and blog a whole dinner party.
I think in future I will post about the dinner party then give the
recipes one blog at a time over the following week or so.
As I have already committed to this I will
now offer the final installment of the dinner party menu hosted last week.
Slow
Roasted Pork Shoulder on a bed of Roasted Root Vegetable and wilted Baby Beet
Leaves:
Pre-heat a hot oven (250- 280°C).
Score the crackle at 1cm increments, you need a really sharp knife for
this so if you don’t have one get your butcher to do this. I used a 2kg boneless pork roast.
In a mortar and pestle crush cumin and
coriander seeds and rub in to the pork shoulder. Season with a generous amount of olive oil
and salt in a roasting tray, then place in the oven for 30 minutes.
Peel 2 large potatoes and cut into 2cm
cubes. Cut the leaves from 6 baby beets
and set aside. Clean the beets and top
and tail – beets are messy as you can imagine so it is best to wear some form
of gloves for this (unless you are going for kitchen hand look at the dinner
party).
Cut the beets into quarters and place in a
large mixing bowl with the potatoes.
Peel one large sweet potato and cut into 2cm cubes and add to the bowl
with the beets and potato. Dress with
olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary tossing the vegetables until coated in
oil. Spread vegetables into 2 roasting
dishes so that there is one layer of the vegetables only, and they are not over
crowded, and set-aside.
After the pork has been in the oven for 30
minutes turn the oven down to 150°C and remove from the oven. Place the vegetables into the oven.
To the pork add 3 peeled and quartered shallots and 6 unpeeled
cloves of garlic. Spread around a bunch
of fresh Thyme and add 1 cup of dry white wine and cover with baking
paper. The wine and the baking paper
will keep the meat moist. Return to the
oven and cook for a further 3-4 hours.
Take the baby beet leaves and remove the red stalks, tear the
leaves and place in a large bowl. Once
the vegetables are cooked – approximately 1-1½ hours remove from oven and add
to the beet leaves and toss. There is no
need to add any oil at this stage, the oil from the vegetables will be
sufficient at this point.
Once the meat is cooked take out of oven and place on a chopping
board to rest. Take the pan juices,
shallots, garlic and thyme and blend together.
Strain the liquid into a saucepan and place on medium heat adding a
tablespoon of rice flower to thicken and white wine if required.
Dress the vegetables with vino cotto serve the pork on bed of the
roasted vegetables, this can be done individually or on a large platter.
NB: It is always problematic serving anything that needs to be
carved. I really suck as this – usually
because at this stage of the evening (after aperitivo (cocktails) and the
entrée (Champagne) I cant be trusted with anything sharper than a fish
knife. Anyway I suggest that you ensure
you have either butcher/chef/family patriarch to ensure this is done properly.
Panzanella – Italian Bread Salad:
 |
| Umm Yep I am a messy cook- You just need to own it! |
As a celiac I used gluten free bread, which usually is an issue at
a dinner party, but this salad is so delicious that no one even noticed. The key to this salad is stale bread so it is
even perfect to through together when you have nothing in the cupboard.
Crumble the bread into a bowl.
If you don’t have stale bread place the breadcrumbs on a roasting pan
and place in a low oven until they have dried out. Marinate the bread in red wine vinegar and
olive oil.
Quarter, core and dice three tomatoes and one continental cucumber
and add to the bread. Season with salt
and pepper and shredded basil leaves and refrigerate for at lease 30 mins. Dress with additional vinegar and olive oil to
your taste and garnish with basil leaves.
