With it being holiday season, this is my campaign for everyone to cook porchetta this year instead of their traditional meat dish! Move over turkey and roast beef, porchetta is way more flavorful and a show stopper!
What is Porchetta:
Porchetta is a traditional Italian dish that features boneless, slow-roasted pork belly. It is traditionally made with a whole pig, but these days it is most common to see it just with pork belly. It is seasoned and stuffed with herbs, then wrapped and tied tightly to roast. It results in a melt in your mouth pork that is delicious and crispy on the outside.
Key Ingredients and Substitutions:
- Pork belly- you can’t make porchetta without pork belly! Try to get a large piece, four to five pounds so you have enough of it to roll up.
- Fennel fronds – these are the top of the fennel. They have a mild fennel flavor that is delicious. If you don’t like fennel, I would replace with an herb like parsley instead.
- Sage and rosemary – these are two of my favorite herbs and are amazing in porchetta. They are the typical winter flavors that you want from this dish. You can easily swap out for another herb of your liking!
- Garlic cloves – now this recipe calls for a lot of garlic, because I am a huge garlic lover! If you aren’t a fan, omit or decrease the amount of total cloves used.
- Orange and lemon zest – you can always omit, but these add a lovely flavor.
- Toasted pine nuts – now traditional porchetta doesn’t have pine nuts, but I think it adds a fun texture! Omit if you dislike!
- Dried herbs of fennel, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper – these help enhance the flavor! If you don’t like one of these just omit it!
- Olive oil – this is used to make the herb mixture into a paste. You can use other oils like avocado oil or grapeseed oil.
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SERVINGS: 12
- PREP TIME: 20 Mins
- COOK TIME: 3 Hrs
- TOTAL TIME: 3 Hr 20 Min
This is perfect for Christmas or a special occasion!
Ingredients:
- 5 lb pork belly
- salt
- ¼ cup fennel fronds, minced
- ¼ cup rosemary, minced
- 1/4 c sage, minced
- 12 garlic cloves, grated or mashed to a paste
- zest of 1 lemon
- Zest of one orange
- ½ cup toasted pine nuts
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp fennel seed
- ¾ tsp red pepper flakes
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Preparation:
STEP 1.
Remove the skin of the pork belly that will be inside the roll. Deeply score the meat inside the belly with cuts roughly two inches apart and about an inch deep. Do it in both directions to make a cross hatch pattern. Trim the edges of pork belly to make a perfect rectangle. On the skin side make shallow slices through the surface with the direction you will roll it. This will help the fat render out. Season with salt and set in the fridge overnight.
STEP 2.
Preheat the oven to 425*F. Prep the sheet tray by lining it with foil and top it with a roasting rack / cookie rack.
STEP 3.
Prep the herb mixture. In a bowl mix the fennel, rosemary, sage, garlic, lemon zest, orange zest, pine nuts, 1 tsp salt, fennel seed, red pepper flakes, black pepper and olive oil to form a paste.
STEP 4.
Prep the porchetta. On the meat side (NOT THE SKIN SIDE) rub the herb mixture all over. Get it into every crevice. Roll the pork belly into a tight roll and tie it off with butchers twine every 2 inches. Make sure it is tight and secure, cut away any excess twine.
STEP 5.
Place on the roasting rack and transfer to the oven. Cook at 425*F for 35 minutes, or until it is golden. Decrease the heat to 325*F and cook for another 2 hours and 45 minutes.
STEP 6.
Remove from the oven and let it cool for 30 minutes before slicing! Enjoy!
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