It’s a cold and dark January and we all need a little bit of a lift to help us get through to the end of the month and this recipe featuring Dingley Dell pork from Suffolk is the epitome of comfort food and will soon warm you up after a walk in the frost.
The great thing about our Rack of Pork is that you can carve it into nice thick, meaty chops once cooked and rested, for easy serving.And don’t forget to get some extra cider in to pair up with the dish afterwards.
Unless you are doing ‘Dry January’ of course.
But why would you want to do that??
(We got in some proper Breton Cider for this recipe but any decent medium cider will do.)
1.4kg Hepburns Rack of Pork
Sea Salt
1 onion, peeled and sliced
1 carrot, peeled and cut into discs
1 celery stick, sliced
250ml water
1kg Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
250g Hepburns Streaky Bacon, sliced thinly
300g Cavolo Nero, shredded
100g butter
100ml double cream
500ml chicken stock
500ml medium cider
Fresh sage leaves.
Sea salt and cracked black pepper, to season
Take your rack of pork, score the fat* and massage the sea salt into the skin and then leave it open on a plate in the fridge overnight (this helps to dry out the skin for crackling.)
Next day, take the pork out and leave to come to room temperature. Meanwhile, heat your oven to 220°C and scatter the onion slices, carrot and celery on the bottom of a roasting tray. Sit the rack on top and add the water around and place into the oven.
Roast for 20 minutes on a high heat and then reduce the temperature to 180°C and roast for a further hour, until the skin has crackled and the juices from the pork run clear. Take from the tray and rest.
Whilst the pork is cooking, prepare your colcannon by placing the potatoes into a large saucepan of salted water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 15-20 mins until the potatoes are soft and begin to break up. Drain the potatoes in a colander and leave to steam.
Heat 25g of the butter in a saucepan, then fry the bacon for 5 minutes before adding the Cavolo Nero. Sauté for another 5 mins, then turn off the heat and set aside.
Mash the potato until smooth and heat the cream with another 25g of butter, so that it melts and then add and beat. Finally add bacon and cabbage to the potato and mix.
To make the gravy, place the roasting tray back onto the hob, over a high heat and add the cider. Bring to the boil and scrape the vegetables and ‘bits’ on the bottom to loosen and then pour through a fine sieve into a pan. Add the chicken stock and reduce by two-thirds.
Finally, heat the remaining 50g of butter in a small pan and add the sage leaves to quickly fry and crisp up and drain on the kitchen towel.
To plate, carve up the rack into separate chops and spoon the colcannon into the middle of the plate. Place the pork on top and add a good drizzle of the cider gravy all around.
Finally add a sprinkling of the crisp sage leaves and serve with some additional vegetables such as buttered Chantenay carrots.
*We can score this for you – just pop some instructions in the Order Notes box in the shopping basket and we will do the rest.