Thank you to Castelli Estate in Western Australia’s Great Southern Wine Region for this simple porchetta recipe. The traditional recipe includes stuffing the porchetta with cooked offal and it’s a little more complicated.
Here’s a video of me preparing the porchetta.
While I didn’t follow the recipe exactly – I added extra garlic and rosemary and I forgot to add the fresh fennel (so I stuffed it in the ends after I’d tied the porchetta), here is the recipe below or you can find it on the Great Southern Wine website, click here.
Simple Porchetta Recipe by Castelli Estate
Wine match: Castelli Estate Pinot Noir or Empirica ‘Uvaggio’ (Grenache, Shiraz Mourvedre blend)
Ingredients
- 6kg Pork Loin (Rib)
- 12g Salt
- 14g Pepper
- 16g Smoked Paprika
- 12g Nutmeg
- 10g Oregano (Ground)
- 5g Italian Herbs
- 15g Fennel Seeds
- 2-3 sprigs fresh Fennel
- 6 Cloves Garlic
Method – to prepare
- Toast the fennel seeds in hot, frying pan until fragrant
- Peel the garlic cloves and place in a pestle and mortar. Add the smoke paprika, toasted fennel, salt, pepper, nutmeg, oregano and Italian herbs and grind to a rough paste.
- Remove the pork sirloin from the pork loin and trim to cylinder like shape, to be rolled inside the loin.
- Rub the paste onto the loin, and lay sprigs of fresh fennel leaves over top.
- Roll the loin, tie with kitchen twine.
Method – to cook
Preheat the oven – 150°C. Place the tray in the oven until the temperature in the centre of the porchetta reaches 30°C – Then increase the temperature to 200°C for around 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 20 minutes, loosely tented with foil.
Tips
- Get your butcher to score the skin and prepare the pork belly or shoulder so it’s easy to roll
- Store it in the fridge uncovered skin side up to help dry the skin
- Have someone help you to roll it up
- Pour about a kettle full of boiling water over the skin, it opens up the scores and also makes are really crunchy crackling
- Lots of salt on the skin
- Probably don’t use as much rosemary as I did – it was so tasty and would’ve worked that bit better with a little less
- Be sure to have crusty bread for porchetta rolls the next day – best left overs ever
- Enjoy with a bottle of Great Southern red! My choice, Castelli Estate Pinot Noir – yum!
Buon apetito!
Video edited by Leo Paoliello at Captured Moments