MOST days, busy families can find it hard to find the time to make dinner and enjoy it with everyone around the table. However, at the weekend, especially on Sunday, there is nothing better than sitting down to a two-course lunch or dinner with the family.
For me, pork is always a great dish for Sunday lunch, but it is always usurped by lamb or beef. The Italians, with their love of all things 'piggy', cook great dishes with pork – including the porchetta winner below.
This week's recipes are a main course and dessert that you can consider for an upcoming Sunday. The flourless chocolate cake for dessert is another favourite in our house – my daughter Charlotte will sit at any dinner table if she knows there is a chocolate dessert at the end.
This recipe is easy to make and, again, practice makes perfect.
Slow Roast Porchetta
Serves 6
1 onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tblsp fennel seeds
3 tblsp cloves, ground
2 bay leaves
1 sprig rosemary, chopped
olive oil
2 kg pork shoulder, boned and butterflied
It is preferable, though not essential, to marinade this dish overnight in the fridge, so, if you can, prepare the night before cooking. If not, all is not lost, it is just best to start early in the morning to ensure the maximum flavour hit.
Start by frying off the onion and garlic on a medium heat in a little olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and when softened add in the fennel seeds, the ground cloves, the bay leaves, and rosemary and keep on the heat for one minute. This should be an explosion of smells. Leave to the side to cool.
With the pork, lie it with the fat side on the counter and spread the cooled ingredients over the meat using your hands to massage it in. Roll the pork up tightly and tie with string. If there is any remaining spice mix left rub into the exterior of the pork.
Cover in cling film and, if possible, place in fridge for 24 hours.
This will take up to three hours to cook, so, when ready, remove from cling film. Pre-heat your oven to 180C and let the pork come up to room temperature. Place in the oven uncovered and once it has been cooking for 90 minutes, move to a lower shelf.
Remove after three hours and allow to rest for 20 minutes. Slice and serve with some beans and a potato salad.
Flourless Chocolate Cake
250g unsalted butter
300g dark chocolate, chopped (the better grade chocolate you buy the better the cake)
5 free range eggs, separated from yolk
250g caster sugar
125g ground almonds
coco powder for dusting
fresh raspberries for decoration
cream to serve
To make this cake you will need a cake tin, the snap away ones are best for this when making at home. Grease your cake tin with butter and line with grease proof paper.
Heat the oven to 180C. Melt the butter on a gentle heat and once melted simmer for a couple of minutes until it starts to brown a little. Add in the chopped chocolate and stir until melted.
Once melted, remove from the heat and whisk in the egg yolks and have a clean bowl sitting out to transfer the ingredients into.
In a different clean bowl whisk the egg whites to soft peaks, I can do this by hand but it really is much easier doing it with an electric mixer.
Mix the sugar and almonds into the chocolate mix and then fold in the egg whites. Always use a metal spoon when mixing egg whites, it should make it lighter if you don't have a heavy hand. Pour the mix into the cake tin.
Place in the oven and bake for 40 minutes, to check this is cooked through place a skewer into the middle of the cake and it should come out clean if baked through. If not place back into the oven for a few minutes.
Leave to cool and chill until needed. When serving decorate with fresh raspberries and serve with cream.
